Russia does not plan to change its position on the 1968 occupation of erstwhile Czechoslovakia, said Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini after his visit to Russia. He argued that Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev assured him that it was just an initiative by an opposition MP that has nothing to do with Russia's official position. According to Pellegrini, Russian President Vladimir Putin even said that he had not heard about the law.
Last week, media brought information that an MP of the communist party, Yuriy Sinelschikov, submitted a bill to the Russian State Duma which aims to grant the status of war veterans to Russian soldiers who took part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. Sinelschikov stated that soldiers involved in the occupation acted in line with the law and were "dutiful fighters who genuinely served their motherland and the interests of the Warsaw Pact countries". He also claimed that the operation came in response to a request sent by the majority of members of the Czechoslovak Communist Party's Central Politburo to the Soviet Union to "provide military aid in the fight against counter-revolutionary forces".
