Czechia should make greater use of Ukraine’s drone experience – Senate committee chair

The Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security of the Senate of the Czech Republic discussed issues of drones, counter-drone security in the country, and the movement of holders of Russian diplomatic passports across Europe on Wednesday.

Pavel Fischer, the head of the committee, stated this in a comment to Ukrinform.

According to Fischer, they had discussed how important it was to use Ukraine’s experience, which had become a real major force in the use of drones, and that the committee agreed on the need for greater application of this experience than before.

He also said that he personally viewed it critically that the Czech defense minister had not yet visited Ukraine and had not signed any cooperation agreements in the field of drones, adding that drones were now decisive in many areas, as evidenced by the interest of Gulf countries in Ukrainian technologies.

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Fischer noted that this was a very sensitive issue at a time when there was a rise in various espionage and sabotage activities, which could involve citizens of the Russian Federation with diplomatic status.

The committee adopted a separate resolution calling on the government to strengthen the protection of the Czech Republic’s security and sovereignty, emphasizing that security priorities were unequivocal.

He added that within the EU a regime had already been introduced requiring any Russian diplomat not accredited in Czechia to notify in advance about their movements within the country.

Fischer said that they shared the view that these measures should be made stricter and that authorization, not just notification, should be required for travel plans, as the level of security threats made it necessary to tighten restrictions on those who could be used as cover for various sabotage operations.

As reported, the Czech Republic had called for stricter restrictions on the movement of Russian diplomats within the European Union under the previous government. This proposal was included in one of the sanctions packages