Tomio Okamura (Photo: MARTIN DIVISEK / EPA)

The new head of the lower house of the Czech parliament (Chamber of Deputies), Tomio Okamura, posted a video of the Ukrainian flag being removed from the building. The leader of the far-right anti-Ukrainian party SPD made in the social network X.

After taking down the flag, he said that "the Czech Republic is in first place."

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The Ukrainian flag has been hanging on the building of the Czech Chamber of Deputies since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 as a symbol of solidarity with the country under attack.

Okamura's predecessor in the post, Marketa Pekarova Adamova, called the move to remove the flag a "a disgraceful gesture" towards both Ukraine and the values shared by the Czech Republic. A number of leaders of the parties that were in power before the election condemned the new speaker's decision, calling it an act that undermines solidarity and the country's pro-Western orientation, reports Radio Prague International.

At the same time, a flag continues to hang on the building alongside the flags of the Czech Republic and the European Union Israel, raised in October 2023 after a terrorist attack by the Hamas group.

Meanwhile, the day before, the candidate for the post of the new Czech foreign minister, Filip Turek, said that the country could to stop its assistance to Ukraine after the formation of the new government.

  • On November 3, the leaders of three political parties signed an agreement to form a coalition. It includes the ANO party, which came in first in the elections and is led by billionaire populist Babiš, and the far-right SPD and the Automobilists.
  • On November 6, the government of pro-Ukrainian PM Fiala resigned.
Tomio OkamuraCzech Republic