Czech President Milos Zeman will arrive in Moscow for ceremonies on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II.
In declaring his decision, Zeman said that refusal to attend the events would be tantamount to insulting the memory of liberator soldiers. "My absence from the ceremonies in Moscow would insult the memory of the 150,000 Soviet soldiers who gave their lives for the liberation of Czechoslovakia," TASS cited him.
He dismissed demands by his political opponents to refrain from going to Russia over the conflict in the southeast of Ukraine. The Czech leader welcomed the armistice between the militias and the authorities in Kiev. "A discussion is on over the degree of decentralization of power in Ukraine," he noted. "Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko has promised special [administrative - VK] status to Donetsk and Lugansk. Of course, I presume that the territorial integrity of Ukraine will be preserved."
