Muransky Submits Protest over Rakusan's Participation in Demonstration (2)

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 claimed that he didn't interfere in Slovak political affairs in any way. In response to Blanar's criticism, he posted a video on X showing Czech 'ANO' party leader Andrej Babis warning against voting for Progressive Slovakia (PS) before the 2023 Slovak parliamentary elections, former Czech President Milos Zeman expressing support for Smer-SD and footage from the Bratislava protest. Rakusan commented: "In response to criticism of my visit to Bratislava yesterday by some Slovak politicians: Not all support is the same". According to Blanar, Rakusan attended the demonstration based on his political motives, which he says is confirmed by the statement that he wanted to support "Slovakia's pro-European direction". He added that Slovak opposition parties have long deliberately exploited this issue against the current Slovak government. "Such actions don't contribute to constructive Slovak-Czech dialogue; on the contrary, I see it as exploitation within the context of the election campaign in the Czech Republic," said Blanar. tim/df/mf