Prague free to follow own foreign course, says lawmaker chiding 'rude' US envoy

PRAGUE, April 7. /TASS/. Czech President Milos Zeman’s forthcoming visit to Moscow to attend V-Day celebrations is excessively politicized, presidential spokesperson Jiri Ovcacek said on Tuesday.

"The president’s visit is too much politicized," he said.

The Czech president has repeatedly said he was not going to cancel his participation in V-Day celebrations in Moscow. "My absence will be an insult to the memory of Soviet soldiers who died liberating Czechoslovakia," he said.

On Wednesday, the Czech government will consider the issue of financing Zeman’s visit to Moscow from the state budget. "If financing is denied, the head of state will have to pay for his trip himself," said Pavel Belobradek, the Deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the Christian Democratic Party.

Apart from that, he condemned US Ambassador Andrew Schapiro’s critical remarks about Zeman’s plans to attend World War Two celebrations in Moscow.