Final Word from Monday, January 30, 2023

A week before he was elected president, Petr Pavel told Deník that the appointment of Boris Pistorius as German defense minister was bad news for Ukraine, because Pistorius had once opposed sanctions against Russia. Germany's stance at the Nato summit in June will be key, Pavel said. One day after being elected, Pavel indicated that he favors sending fighter jets to Ukraine. If we don't want to allow Russia to win in Ukraine, he said (at 43:50), we must make it understand that it cannot win. This came just a few hours after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Tagesspiegel that sending fighters isn't even an issue and that he's against getting into a constant bidding contest about weapons systems. Whether Pavel coordinated his efforts to put pressure on Germany with Foreign Min. Jan Lipavský isn't clear, but Pavel has wasted no time in showing that, with the presidential elections now behind it, the Czech executive branch will get down to the task of escalating the conflict in Ukraine. [ Czech Republic OVM Czech Television ČT TV ]