Muransky Submits Protest over Rakusan's Participation in Demonstration

Praha 18 September (TASR-correspondent) - Czech Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Daniel Drake has confirmed for TASR that Slovak Ambassador to the Czech Republic Martin Muransky has conveyed the Slovak government's protest to the ministry concerning the participation of Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan in a demonstration in Bratislava on Tuesday. According to Drake, the Czech side reiterated to Muransky that it was Rakusan's private activity. "It was a private activity of the interior minister. Today, Radek Pech [the director of the European section of the Czech Foreign ministry] also explained this to the Slovak ambassador," said Drake. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar claimed that by participating in the demonstration, which was organised by Slovak opposition parties, Rakusan interfered in Slovakia's internal affairs and dragged Slovakia into a campaign in the Czech Republic ahead of elections to the Chamber of Deputies. Rakusan denies this. He reiterated that he attended the demonstration as a private citizen and pointed out that he didn't interfere in Slovak political affairs in any way. tim/df/mf