These are agreements that the former communist republic of Czechoslovakia had concluded with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. They endured after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the partition of Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s: Russia continued to benefit from the arrangement.
According to the communist Czech news agency CTK, Russia was thus able to use 59 plots and buildings in the Czech Republic for free. The Russian embassy in Prague is not included, but several buildings in the area are, it says. In addition to the capital, there are also locations in Brno – the second city of the Czech Republic – and the spa town of Karlsbad.
Lipavsky says the plots will henceforth be leased “to avoid unjust enrichment”. The foreign minister thus suggests that certain plots were used for commercial rather than diplomatic purposes.
Relations between Prague and Moscow have deteriorated since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February last year. In April, the Czech government gave the green light to defense cooperation with the United States. The agreement facilitates the stationing of US military personnel in the country, which has been a member of the Western defense alliance NATO since 1999.