Slovak Foreign and European Affairs Ministry criticised as "unacceptable" an attempt to legitimise via a law in the Russian State Duma the invasion of Czechoslovakia by five Warsaw Pact armies to crush a reform movement in 1968. "According to our information, it's a repeated initiative by the opposition Communist Party, which has never gained enough support for the proposal and everything suggests that now it's going to be the same," said Boris Gandel, Spokesperson of the Ministry.
The bill, which is to be presented in the Russin State Duma aims to grant the status of war veterans to Russian soldiers who took part in the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. The bill's submitter MP Yuriy 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".
Academics in the Faculty of Arts at Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, eastern Slovakia, see the attempt as unacceptable, dangerous and disturbing. Such a conscious twist of history, coupled with disrespect for other views and the ignoring of partners, cannot be perceived as anything other than denying the principles of democracy and insulting all victims," said historian Martin Pekár of the Faculty.
Slovak opposition party Freedom and Solidarity party (SaS) has called the attempt to legitimise the August 1968 occupation a "hostile act against Slovakia".
"The military invasion and subsequent 20-year occupation of the erstwhile Czechoslovakia constituted an egregious violation of international law. Both Soviet and later Russian officials gradually distanced themselves from this illegal act in the past. Moreover, they even extended an official apology to Czechs and Slovaks for this historical grievance", reads a statement provided by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini's spokesperson Patricia Maciková.
Slovak Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini intends to discuss the issue with top Russian officials during his upcoming visit to Russia, starting on Wednesday. Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajčák is ready to open the issue during a visit to Russia, but he does not expect that the bill will be passed anyway.
