PRAGUE, November 25. /TASS/. Czech President Petr Pavel believes it necessary to talk with Russia about reactivating the treaties that ensured Europe’s security.
"If we don't talk with Russia about security from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea, if we don't talk about restoring treaties that [provided] protection for European citizens, then, on the contrary, the real causes [of escalating tensions] will not be eliminated, and we can expect that a confrontation will arise sooner or later again," the president said as broadcast by the CTK news agency.
According to him, the security problems in Europe will not disappear with the end of the conflict in Ukraine. The Czech president claims that "Russia is not interested in peaceful coexistence," and believes that the European security has recently "become worse."
Pavel also believes that the program of the coalition government, which is being formed by candidate for prime minister Andrej Babis, lacks references to Russia as a threat to security and the republic's allied obligations as NATO and the European Union members.
"We are fortunate not to have provisions [in the program] that we should consider holding a referendum on leaving the EU or NATO," Pavel said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier called the "mantra" of European politicians about a possible war with Russia nonsense. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia has never had and has no intention of attacking NATO and the EU.