Russia is hostile towards us and is doing everything to make people in the West afraid, said Karel Řehka, Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic, in today’s Questions of Václav Moravec. In his opinion, Ukraine should not be restricted in any way in the use of supplied weapons. According to him, the war should also be transferred to the territory of the aggressor.
“Defending against hybrid threats must be a company-wide concern. We notice it more today, but the phenomenon of hybrid war is nothing new,” stated Karel Řehka when asked by Václav Moravec whether the recent threat of bomb attacks against schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is related to the hybrid war waged by Russia against the West.
According to the Chief of the General Staff, he is not pessimistic about how Western countries behaved after the Russian aggression. “The West actually did a great job in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Being stuck in the Alliance or in Europe, we have accepted new member states into the Alliance and in general we are dealing with coordination. Threats are increasing, but we as a company are reacting to it,” said Karel Řehka.
Part of the discussion then revolved around Russia’s constant threats to the West and also about limiting Ukraine’s use of weapons supplied to it by its Western allies. “Don’t help Ukraine, you can escalate it, we have nuclear weapons, the war is already decided, we can continue indefinitely, which is not true, sanctions do nothing for us, which is also not true. They are trying to destabilize the West so that people are afraid and don’t help Ukraine,” summed up General Řehka succinctly.
In his opinion, the Allies should cancel all restrictions blocking Ukrainian defense options. “It is necessary to cancel these restrictions on the use of weapons by some countries, because it is legal and legitimate for Ukrainians to defend themselves even by attacking the territory of Russia. Otherwise, it simply cannot be done because they cannot box with one hand tied behind their back,” said the Chief of the General Staff. In his opinion, Russia is thus at a clear advantage, because, for example, the planes that attack civilian targets in Ukraine take off from airports in Russia that are within range of the supplied weapons, but the Ukrainian army is not allowed to use them for this purpose.
“The planes are taking off from Russian airfields that are within range of existing weapons, but the Ukrainians cannot use them. And those planes then bomb civilian infrastructure, not just soldiers. So it would be perfectly fine for the Ukrainians to be able to attack Russian territory as well,” said Karel Řehka, recalling that, for example, the occupation of part of Russian territory showed that Russia only verbally threatens, but does not take any action against the West.
“The situation in the Kursk region has shown some Western leaders that they should not be afraid of escalation and red lines, because the Russians are still harassing us with nuclear weapons, but when the Ukrainians invaded there and took the whole district, nothing happened,” the general expressed his opinion, according to whose incursion into Russian territory was primarily a successful effort to boost the morale of war-weary Ukrainians. “We know from our Ukrainian contacts that it was a really significant moral boost,” concluded Karel Řehka. At the end of the discussion, he added that NATO’s strategy is not an offensive war, but the “principle of deterrence” so that no war occurs. “We all want peace, but you won’t achieve it through concessions or behavior that, as we can see, is not working, but instead encourages Russia to escalate,” stated the Chief of the General Staff.
