Russia in the Czech Foreign Policy
Russia in the Czech Foreign Policy

Author(s): Petra Kuchyňková, Petr Kratochvíl
Subject(s): Political history, Economic policy, Environmental and Energy policy, Government/Political systems, International relations/trade, Political behavior, Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), EU-Accession / EU-DEvelopment
Published by: Ústav mezinárodních vztahů
Keywords: Russia; Czech Republic; Foreign policy; Economic and Trade Relations;
Summary/Abstract: Czech-Russian relations pose quite a controversial topic in the Czech political debate. They may even be characterized by a long-term obsession with Russia on the part of the Czechs. Russia is often represented negatively in the Czech political debate and even as a threat to national security. Here a gradual shift may be observed from seeing Russia as a Soviet-type danger to seeing it as the ‘new Russia’ – a rising power which still has strong interests in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. In recent years a second shift is observable – that from viewing Russia as a military threat to viewing it as a colleague in matters of economy and energy. This second shift is quite important because Russia is also often portrayed positively in the Czech political debate. More specifically, it is portrayed as an opportunity, particularly as an economic opportunity. The so-called positive discourse about today’s Russia in the Czech political debate is also often accompanied with relatively little attention being devoted to the other post-Soviet countries, even though the potential in this respect is quite great (for instance, in the case of Ukraine).

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