Volgograd regional public organization internationalist warriors, veterans of the fighting in Czechoslovakia in 1968, appeared in 2011. Today it includes more than 250 people from Volgograd and the region. The Danubians set themselves the goal of protecting the civil, socio-economic, labor and personal freedoms of the participants in the operation. Activists work on the patriotic education of young people and interact with other associations from Czechoslovakia.
One of the forms of work in this direction is the creation of the book “Towards the Dawn”, in which the veterans themselves would tell the world about the events of 1968.
About 50 memories of witnesses of those events have already been documented, unique photographs have been found, archival records, reports, combat reports and orders from the leadership of the USSR Ministry of Defense have been retrieved.
As part of the project, it is planned to publish the book “Towards the Dawn” in a circulation of 100 copies and hold its presentation. The book will be presented to the most active members of the public organization “Danube 68”, and also transferred to Volgograd libraries.
The project also provides for three round tables"Danube-68. Prague Spring - 50 years" with the participation of at least 20 combat veterans of Czechoslovakia from the Volgograd region and other regions of Russia, meetings of veterans of the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 with youth, schoolchildren and students.
Goals
- Preservation of historical memory of the Czechoslovak events of 1968 and their participants.
Tasks
- Collect the materials needed to publish the book.
- Determine the printing base, print the circulation. Develop and approve the design of the book, make up the original layout, make literary corrections, and proofread the publication.
- Organize and conduct a presentation of the book “Towards the Dawn”. Present illustrated books to combat veterans in Czechoslovakia and donate books to Volgograd libraries
- To establish close interaction between veterans and youth to pass on the historical memory of heroic events in the history of the country from generation to generation.
- Organize and conduct round table meetings “Danube-68. The Prague Spring is 50 years old.”
Justification of social significance
The history of our Fatherland gives vivid examples selfless service to Russia and the fulfillment of military duty by the Russian people. At all times, the exploits of Russian warriors were revered by the people, and the younger generation was brought up by their examples. Such people also live next to us. And we can perpetuate their names for posterity. Therefore, the implementation of this project is a huge, noble work to preserve historical memory. The Volgograd regional public organization of internationalist soldiers, veterans of military operations in Czechoslovakia in 1968, carries out a lot of public work and participates in the patriotic education of youth.Volgograd will host ceremonial events dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Operation Danube-68. The presentation of an illustrated book will have great moral significance: the implementation of the project will remove a certain social tension among veterans. Thanks to grant support, the book will be presented to participants in the fighting in Czechoslovakia in 1968, who live not only in the Volgograd region, but also in other regions of our country.
The project has a large social significance. Events dedicated to this date will be held in the presence of representatives of the legislative and executive authorities, with the involvement of the public. The anniversary event will be covered by means mass media different levels. All this will demonstrate the unfading connection between generations of warriors - patriots of their Fatherland, and will also become an excellent example for all citizens Russian Federation in the matter of patriotic education. We should be proud that the Russian state is guarded by true patriots, ready to represent the interests of the country wherever circumstances require - both on the territory of our Motherland and beyond its borders.
Besides, this project will help draw attention to the solution of such social issues as the protection of civil, socio-economic, labor and personal rights of participants in the operation.
Operation Danube was a counterattack
Veterans of the entry of troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 testify.
Exactly 50 years ago, on the night of August 20-21, 1968, the territory Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Troops from five member states of the Warsaw Pact were brought in: USSR, People's Republic of Belarus, East Germany, Hungary and Poland. Started Operation Danube, the largest after the Second World War and remains in history as a brilliantly planned and executed military-strategic event with the fewest casualties. And although half a century has passed since it was held, the history of the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia is more relevant than ever. The turning point of the era, the scale of the events that took place, and the possibility of concentrating extremely significant events in a short period of time are quite in tune with modernity.
It is characteristic that in the former Czechoslovakia what happened is still perceived as a keenly felt modernity. Similar sentiments are observed in the post-Soviet space. Despite a sufficient period of time, which would seem to make it possible to avoid distortions caused by the immediate proximity of events, it has not yet been possible to move away from the direct projection of ideological attitudes...
Almost all researchers, regardless of political orientation and ideological preferences, agree that the Czechoslovak crisis is one of the central episodes of the post-war confrontation.
However, as a rule, they are limited to unity in assessing the scale of events.
Persisting mythology cold war pushes liberal-oriented authors to a superficial, extremely one-sided interpretation of the events in Czechoslovakia, which are still presented as a peaceful “Prague Spring” aimed at “humanizing” socialism, but interrupted as a result of Soviet aggression, although it did not meet an organized military response, but faced with popular resistance to “communist totalitarianism.”
This circumstance most noticeably influences Czech historiography, which places emphasis on the “historical guilt” of the USSR. However, since the late 80s. last century and to the present time in Russian historical literature Numerous compilations claiming to be scientific have also spread widely, essentially only repeating the grievances of Czech and Slovak authors seeking to take ideological revenge for the military-political defeat of 1968. History has been supplanted by lightweight history (in the style of the notorious “Liberator” Rezun-Suvorov) journalism with its characteristic fragmentation of the holistic picture, which makes it easy to propagate pseudoscientific myths.
Contemporary desire for recognition of events in Czechoslovakia one of the first attempts to organize a “color revolution”, encounters fierce resistance from Russophobes. The emotions of Czechs and Slovaks can still be understood. But we also have those for whom the Danube participants are still nothing more than “liquidators of the Prague Spring”, and the operation itself is a continuous chain of political mistakes bordering on crimes. Behind the nervous giggling and outright defamation, one can easily discern not so much the continuation of opposition to the Soviet era, but rather the national discussion being imposed today by the liberal public, at the center of which is the question: should geopolitical activity be curtailed? modern Russia(return Crimea, “drain” Donbass and hand over unfortunate Syria to the final torn apart of “partners”) in exchange for the lifting of Western sanctions and the preservation of a liberal political course.
It is possible to resist aggressive ideological expansion only by appealing to the collective memory of veterans. IN modern conditions it should be treated with special care. The living word of a participant and witness can have a stronger impact than endless lists historical facts, volumes of statistics and mountains of grandiose memorials...
Actually, the first memories of “ Danube"appeared shortly after 1968. Initially they were sporadic, but gradually their flow increased. The memoirs of the former commander of the 38th Army, General A.M., became widely known. Mayorova, became available (in varying degrees) other materials. A genuine breakthrough associated with the definition historical significance“Danube” and the integration of veterans’ memories into collective memory, was produced by V.P. Suntsev(Ukraine), who managed to organize and systematize the collection and publication of these materials.
The conclusion made by the researcher, according to which the successful implementation of the Danube prevented the impending invasion of the North Atlantic Alliance troops and made it possible to avoid a large-scale (possibly nuclear) war in Europe, became the most important contribution to the study of this military-strategic operation.
The ascetic activity of V.P. Suntseva not only received public recognition, but also became an example for other direct participants in the events. The success of the work done prompted further collection of materials and revision of outdated provisions on the nature of the events of 1968. A regional public organization of internationalist soldiers took shape in Rostov-on-Don. Danube-68”, which launched a search for veterans of the operation and their relatives, collection and publication of memoirs, and identification of documents from personal archives. The most important event in her activities was the publication in 2011 of the voluminous book “ Towards the dawn"(republished in 2013 in an expanded and expanded version), containing memories of veterans of the operation. These efforts were supported by representatives of the scientific community and the general public, and met with a favorable response, both in Rostov region, and throughout the post-Soviet space, intensified the veterans’ movement as a whole. Similar organizations began to emerge in other regions of our country. Today we have the right to talk about broad social movement participants in Operation Danube.
The vast majority of Danube veterans act as a cohesive international community, united in their assessments of the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia and retaining the perception of themselves as the direct heirs of the victorious soldiers of 1945, who were responsible for preserving the post-war world order. They are proud of their personal participation in a great historical test, which they withstood with honor, without tarnishing their banners with the shame of violence and looting. The notorious statement of the Soviet government on December 5, 1989, in which, at the instigation of Gorbachev, despite the obligations under the Warsaw Pact and availability of official appeal with a request for help, the decision to send allied troops into Czechoslovakia is assessed as an erroneous and unjustified interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, and is perceived by veterans as the limit of state recklessness, discrediting the significance of Operation Danube for the USSR and provoking increasing reproaches against our country.
In the memory of veterans, the military-strategic Operation Danube forever remained not only one of the most striking events associated with the just struggle to preserve the results of the Second World War, but also a logical link in our country’s centuries-long resistance to Western aggressiveness. Just as Russia’s territorial expansion historically was only a response to an external threat, so during the Cold War, including in 1968, Soviet actions(with all the external radicalism) were essentially defensive in nature. The Hungarian lesson of 1956 was well learned by the developers (headed by the highly experienced General S.M. Shtemenko) and the command of the military-strategic operation, who understood the need for combat activity in order to minimize the number of possible casualties. The Danube, in essence, was only a counterattack caused by the desire to fix the border, which our opponents in the Cold War were not allowed to cross.
Until now, such a fact has not appeared anywhere, say, that the deployment of troops was even somewhat late - into the territory of Czechoslovakia from the side West Germany On August 21, 1968, the leading battalions of the US Army's 1st and 3rd Mechanized Divisions invaded and were immediately driven back by two Soviet tank regiments.
If the conviction is forced, predominantly defensive Since the nature of the actions of the Soviet side is determined by the memory of veterans about the Cold War as a whole, the main marker for participants in the events of 1968 is the recognition of the conduct of hostilities during the operation. This issue has been raised many times, and many participants in the events have spoken out on this issue. The conclusion they reached is clear: fighting were an integral part of the Danube. Information about the conduct of hostilities permeates the entire content of veterans’ memories. In close connection with them, such aspects as the restoration of the scheme of combat operations, the composition and combat grouping of troops, the list of military units who participated in the operation and clarification of combat losses. Thanks to the memories of veterans, as a result of painstaking teamwork (most of the military documents still classified), from individual elements of the mosaic, ultimately, a complete picture of a grandiose, carefully developed and thought-out military operation is formed.
Who today would dare to deny such signs of hostilities as the creation of the Main Command of Operation Danube (commander-in-chief - General I.G. Pavlovsky), the formation of the Central, Southern and Carpathian Fronts? Who would dare to deny combat orders, combat reports, weapons and front-line allowances for all personnel, and keeping combat logs? And, of course, who would dare to deny the awarding of military orders and medals to the participants in the operation, and, moreover, the irretrievable and sanitary losses of military personnel during its implementation?
At the same time, government bodies, in response to numerous appeals from veterans, refuse to acknowledge reality, again and again limiting themselves to a bureaucratic reply about “individual military clashes,” provoking the “Danubians” to a trivial question: would they be recognized as participants in hostilities if the deployment of troops was delayed and it would be necessary to forcefully drive out NATO troops, if it had not been possible to successfully block the Czechoslovak army and it had offered armed resistance, if the actions of the troops had been less professional, and the soldiers had succumbed to numerous provocations with unpredictable developments?
Veterans, whose ranks are thinning, are patiently waiting for one of the senior government officials to comment on the situation. Meanwhile, military academies (and not only Russian ones) continue to study Operation Danube as an example of military art.
To correctly assess the nature of the military-strategic operation “Danube”, it is necessary to understand the fact that all participants in the events, without exception, had to act in new, especially difficult conditions. For the first time, elements of the so-called “new generation war” were actively used, associated with influencing the enemy using methods of social manipulation. The most powerful weapon in such a war is not so much the military contingent as the media, imposing ideological stamps on the entire world community. The main features of such a war are: the use of civilians against troops as human shields; the desire to maximize one’s own losses for the sake of creating an “information occasion”; attributing to enemy forces those actions that a real provocateur practices himself.
There are many stories in the memoirs of veterans that illustrate elements of such a war.
The images of numerous protests contained in the memoirs leave no doubt about their thoughtful, provocative organization, pre-prepared support, leadership from a single center, and frankly staged nature. The troops were fully faced with an attempt to turn them into an aggressor, and extremists, posing as the entire population of Czechoslovakia, into people's avengers.
We were not ready for such a turn, and to correct the mistakes political leadership happened directly during the operation, mainly by ordinary conscript soldiers. We have to admit that this lesson was never fully learned, and today we again risk losing the “war of memory” - the memory of 1968 in our country is preserved mainly only thanks to the personal efforts of veterans and enthusiasts, while in the Czech Republic , Slovakia, other countries of Eastern Europe this activity is given special status.
Almost all participants in the events of 1968 emphasize that the population of Czechoslovakia was not united in its attitude towards the invading troops: “The differentiation of views was very noticeable. The position of a citizen was very often determined not by his social background, but by his age. The older generation regarded the presence of foreign troops as an inevitable act, and many gave this event a positive assessment.” However, the same authors admit that this population, with seemingly traditionally peace-loving, often pro-Russian sentiments, allowed extremist-minded youth(at least for a while) impose your will on the entire society. And the question of the reasons for what happened remains open.
Let us pay attention to one more fundamental circumstance. In Czechoslovakia itself, in the second half of the 1960s, the illusions that had survived from the pre-war period and inspired the “Prague Spring” intensified, according to which the country’s role was reduced to a “second Switzerland”, acting as a kind of mediator between the liberal West and the socialist East. A long-cherished idea acquired a new meaning and pleased national pride. The need for ideological justification for the desire for an eclectic combination of antagonistic features of opposing political systems gave rise to such an ideological construct as the notorious “socialism with a human face.”
However, all external forces saw the future of Czechoslovakia fundamentally differently and assigned it a role in their geopolitical plans no more important than a strategic springboard.
Against the background of national neurosis caused by the natural intensification of this contradiction, a wave of aggressiveness grew, which was managed (with the help of overseas patrons) to be saddled outright extremists, like Club 231, which included many outright Nazis. In the conditions of bloc confrontation, the desire of the Soviet Union to strengthen its position in Central Europe, placing a military contingent in Czechoslovakia. In the context of the events of 1968, the military-strategic operation “Danube” turns into the main event of them, but by no means a derivative event from the “Prague Spring”.
Of course, a decisive breakthrough in the study of the events of 1968 in Czechoslovakia and the military-strategic operation “Danube” will be associated with the introduction of scientific circulation the entire range of sources. However, it is already possible to develop their history at a level that allows us to overcome the myth-making of the Cold War period. A pessimist may object that the authors brought a lot, so to speak, from themselves, that they might not have known or subjectively interpret the circumstances. Of course they could, but it is this subjectivity that makes memories effective tool impact on public consciousness, turning them, ultimately, into the memory of generations. And the memory of the people is incommensurably higher than any seemingly objectively presented (if this is even possible) history.
Today it is quite obvious that modern Russian society will accept only such historical ideas that will be consistent with its historical memory.
Creation of a non-contradictory modern concept events of 1968 and change historical assessment Operation Danube opens up the opportunity for a new formulation of the question of the status of the participants in the operation and the restoration of historical justice.
It is annoying to realize that the insecurity of the defenders of the Fatherland is a sad tradition of our state, which declares high patriotism and often forgets its own heroes who do not separate their fate from the fate of the Motherland.
Alexey Baylov – candidate historical sciences, Associate Professor of the Southern Federal University, coordinator of the Rostov regional public organization of internationalist soldiers “Danube-68”.
Vladimir Bulgakov - Hero of Russia, Colonel General.
Vitaly Shevchenko – police major general, military historian, chairman of the Rostov regional public organization of internationalist soldiers “Danube-68”.
Czechoslovakia 1968
Czechoslovakia 1968, “The Year of Difficult Trials”, NATO plans failed, the counter-revolution did not pass
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Our troops went to Czechoslovakia to fulfill their international duty, but in essence to accept
Baptism of fire. I’ll tell you another story. I had a difficult and unpleasant mission -
this is to accompany to Ukraine to the Chernihiv region of Priluki cargo-200. Staff sergeant
Yevtushenko Grigory Andreevich, born in 1947, during a march, when towards
Czech motorcyclists, cars, and crowds of aggressive people stood in front of the tank column. Seeing this situation, the tank commander gave the command to change the route. He himself stood in the open hatch. Now it is difficult to judge who was to blame, the tank commander or the driver, but the tank overturned and the commander died, the rest of the crew remained alive.
All this happened in the first days. The regiment marched and arrived in the concentration area to carry out further tasks. The command of the regiment was in front of me
set the task: to pick up cargo-200 from the SVG hospital in Legnica and deliver it to
parents’ place of residence. I arrived at the hospital, they took me to the morgue, there were four corpses lying there.
They asked me: “Which one is yours?” I shrugged my shoulders, I have never
I saw and did not know. The sheets were removed from the corpses, and surnames were written on the thigh.
Mortuary workers began preparing them for transportation. The wooden coffins were galvanized,
They left windows for identification. And so we ended up with 4 loads - 200.
We were told that you would be sent to the airfield in Krzyva. Around 6:00 p.m., we were given a car. We loaded 4 coffins and went to the airfield. We arrived in Krzyva at about 20 o'clock. Before the events, the air regiment of the SGV was located here, which departed at Czechoslovakia, place
occupied by a military unit that arrived from the Union. I, as the eldest, went to the command post and asked
senior. They showed me a man who was giving the command to someone to fly to Czechoslovakia.
I introduced myself to him (I didn’t know his rank, he was wearing a jacket without shoulder straps) and said:
We must deliver 4 coffins to the Union. He said: “Wait.” He called a soldier and ordered him to take us to the barracks. At 2 o’clock a soldier came running: “Who’s the eldest here?”
Deliver the coffins to the plane for loading.
We went out, it was dark all around and only 200 meters away we could see the light. We went towards this light. It was the light of a large plane. We began to load our coffins onto the plane, but alas, there were already 17 units of the same cargo and each of them had accompanying. The crew commander asked us: -Where are we going to fly? We answered: -To Brest. There we could get Russian money. Crew commander: -Brest does not accept such an airplane, Lvov can accept it. After some time we flew to
Lvov. At 5 o'clock we landed in Lvov. The financier was waiting for us there and gave us
allowance for us. The crew commander and the airfield management agreed
flight route. And so we fly to Kiev. We landed in Zhulyany. The plane was met
a large group of military men. Seven coffins were unloaded here, the rest were sent to Moscow. A colonel approached and asked who I was accompanying. I answered. He pointed to the helicopter: “Load, fly. They will meet you there.” The soldiers loaded cargo-200 into the helicopter.
I met the helicopter pilots and we flew off. We landed outside the city on a large piece of land covered with grass. No one met us. About 300 meters from the helicopter I saw three army tents and went towards them. A man walked towards me military uniform we met - it was an Air Force lieutenant colonel, commander of the air regiment being formed, but there were no personnel or equipment. There was one headquarters.
After some time, a black Volga arrived at the helicopter and got out A tall man without a hand with a scar on his face. It was the secretary of the district committee. Then I found out that he
fought, was wounded and burned in a tank. Later, the head of the RVC arrived and with him an honor guard. The soldiers loaded the coffin onto the car and we left for the parents’ place of residence, which is somewhere 18-20 kilometers from Priluki. We arrived at the parents’ house.
It was a private house with a large plot of land. The soldiers carried the coffin into the house. Imagine my position and condition - as if I was the culprit in the death of their son. The mother demanded that the coffin be opened. I explained to her that in order to open the coffin it was necessary
permission and the presence of a doctor from the sanitary station. There is a window where you can see your son’s face. In my heart I thought, because she was right. But a lot of time passed, the corpse was decomposing.
The work shift at the plant has ended, it's time a large number of people say goodbye
with my fellow countryman. I approached my father and asked him for permission to take the coffin into the yard. That’s what they did. People freely approached the coffin and paid their last tribute to the man. They buried the senior sergeant with military honors.
I never wish anyone to carry out such a mission. And I am very sad for all the people who fulfilled their military duty but remained forgotten.
I visited these mothers
And he cried with them.
I couldn't save their children
They went to heaven as saints.
Veterans of Operation Danube (1968) are not recognized as combatants
For many years it was claimed that no combat operations took place during the strategic operation Danube. Colonel General Vladimir Bulgakov says: “At that moment the correct assessment was not given. Camouflaged as international assistance. It was simply unprofitable to confirm then that we were fighting, for political reasons: as soon as the troops entered, the UN accused the Union of violating the sovereignty of Czechoslovakia. Communist ideology imposed stereotypes - communism, fraternal peoples, international assistance.”
In Soviet times, the fulfillment of international duty in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was presented to society like exercises on Czechoslovak territory called “Danube”: they threatened, they say, an armored “fist” against the “damned imperialists”, and that was the end of it.
Gennady Serdyukov, professor, head of department political history Faculty of History of the Southern Federal University, believes:
“There has still been no serious research on Operation Danube and the events of 1968. Everything can be questioned and rethought, except for one thing - the behavior of our soldier, who fulfilled his duty to the Motherland.”
In our military-political history, everything turned out exactly the opposite. Thus, during “perestroika,” M. Gorbachev, speaking about the Czechoslovak events, first gave them the following assessment (1987): “...Some socialist countries have experienced serious crises in their development. This was the case, for example, in Hungary in 1956, in Czechoslovakia in 1968... Each of these crises had its own specifics. They came out differently. But the objective fact is this: in none of the socialist countries has there been a return to the old order... Of course, it is not socialism that is to blame for the difficulties and difficulties in the development of socialist countries, but mainly the miscalculations of the ruling parties. And, of course, there is also the “merit” of the West here, its constant and persistent attempts to undermine the development of socialist states, to trip them up.”
However, soon at a meeting of the leaders of Bulgaria, Hungary, the GDR, Poland and the Soviet Union, held on December 4, 1989 in Moscow, a completely different official assessment of the Czechoslovak events was given: the entry of troops of five ATS states into Czechoslovakia was interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state and should to be condemned. At that time, the “velvet revolution” (another “color revolution”) was going on in Czechoslovakia, and the leadership of the socialist countries, including the USSR, collectively repented (to the USA, first of all) of the mistake of sending Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968. This political conclusion immediately turned all participants in the Czechoslovak events - from privates to generals - into occupiers, outcasts and generally “stranglers of democracy”. And when, finally, the USSR declassified the list of countries where Soviet military personnel took part and died in “undeclared” wars and armed conflicts, Czechoslovakia was not included.
General Vladimir Bulgakov, whom we have already quoted, also performed “international duty” in Afghanistan and has seven military orders. Served as chief of staff of the North Caucasus Military District, commander of the Far Eastern Military District, deputy commander-in-chief Ground forces RF. Agree, with such a track record, he has the right to say: “If we evaluate the operation from a military point of view, it was carried out brilliantly. Look at the mass of troops that were put on alert, including allied ones. How competently the operation was planned and carried out in a short time. They were simply not expected. When we figured it out, we realized it was too late. We have been preparing troops since May, but not a single reconnaissance report has reported that we are preparing a battle. As a result, the losses were minimal, for which honor and praise go to the commander of the operation. Both geopolitical and military goals were achieved with minimal losses. There was no analogue to such an operation.
Time has passed, and the situation has changed, and objectively it is high time to admit that these were military operations. There was opposition to Soviet troops.
However, most of the weapons and equipment remained in the warehouses, which were immediately captured and blocked allied forces. And only for this reason the units of the regular Czech army were unable to launch large-scale military operations.” (I note that the strength of the Czechoslovak army in 1968 was about 200 thousand people.)
It is clear why the opinion took root in the USSR, and then in Russia, that the operation was completely bloodless. But there were some losses. According to the commander of the 38th Army, Lieutenant General A.M. Mayorov, cited at a meeting on August 23, seven infantry fighting vehicles were set on fire as a result of being hit by Molotov cocktails (some burned along with their crews), and more than 300 vehicles were destroyed and damaged. In total, from August 21 to October 20, 11 military personnel were killed while performing a combat mission, including one officer; 87 people were wounded and injured, including 19 officers. In addition, 85 people died in disasters, accidents, careless handling of weapons and military equipment, as a result of other incidents, and died from illnesses.
Warsaw Pact troops were generally ordered to only return fire, and this rule was generally observed. The opinion of the commander of the Alpha group of the KGB of the USSR, Hero of the Soviet Union, retired Major General Gennady Zaitsev (in 1968 he led the group of the 7th Directorate of the KGB of the USSR) is indicative: « How did they manage to capture a by no means small European country in the shortest possible time and with minimal losses? A significant role in this course of events was played by the neutral position of the Czechoslovak army (which was neutralized! – V.P.). But the main reason for the low number of casualties was the behavior of the Soviet soldiers, who showed amazing restraint.”
But situations also arose in which even people hardened by harsh service could lose their nerves. In one of the combat reports of that period one could read: “The crew of the tank 64 MSP 55 Med (sergeant major Andreev Yu.I., junior sergeant Makhotin E.N. and private Kazarin P.D.) on the way of movement met an organized counter-revolutionary elements a crowd of youth and children. In an effort to avoid casualties from the local population, they decided to bypass it, during which the tank overturned. The crew died." And the thing, as our newspaper later wrote, was like this.
The tragedy occurred on the first day of the operation, August 21. On a narrow mountain road between the cities of Presov and Poprad, the path of a tank column was suddenly blocked by a group of women and children. They were deceived into bringing them here by extremists, who hoped to provoke a bloody incident with large casualties.
In order not to run over people, the driver of the lead vehicle had no choice but to turn sharply to the side... The tank fell from a cliff, overturned onto the tower and caught fire... Yuri Andreev, Pyotr Kazarin, Evgeniy Makhotin were subsequently awarded state awards. But at the site of their death there is not even a small sign that would somehow remind of the feat of Soviet soldiers. I will add that several thousand Soviet soldiers were awarded military awards, among them only 1000 paratroopers were awarded military orders and medals.
The news of the dead crew immediately spread throughout the Soviet troops. In those days, my mother also received a message about my death. The news was unofficial, from an officer who had come on a business trip, who decided in this way to “show off his knowledge of what was happening in Czechoslovakia...” And we didn’t even know him. But mom and dad began to wait for the “funeral.”
Officers' business trips to the Union were then frequent, and for various reasons. The border was practically open. Some of my colleagues were also sent on a business trip, and I took the opportunity to give my parents a letter written after my “death.” Everything became clear. At that time, many “opportunistically” passed on news to family and friends, which, by the way, was categorically prohibited by military censorship. As for me, later I got it too when the “contra” staged a terrorist attack, and an explosion threw me into a cliff at the pass. The Tatra Mountains, as it turned out, are very high and steep... But my mother knew nothing about this for a very long time.
Our mothers did not know what was reported in the combat reports. And there was a truth that is still unknown to many today. Here are lines from some reports from that time, and only from Prague:
“August 21. By 12 o'clock, paratroopers, overcoming barricades of cars and trams, blocked the KGB, the Ministry of Communications, took under protection the building of the People's Bank, the editorial office of the newspaper "Rude Pravo", and the international telephone exchange. The division had no losses. Only in the shootout during the capture of the television center were two paratroopers wounded.”
"25-th of August. In the afternoon, anti-Soviet demonstrations took place in certain areas of Prague, and periodic shooting took place.”
"August, 26th. At night in Prague there was a firefight in a number of places. A detachment of the 119th Guards Reconnaissance Division was fired upon three times in the area of Club 231. 2 paratroopers were wounded."
“August 27. A meeting of the National Assembly was held in Prague. Units of the 7th Guards. The airborne forces guarding the Government House, the building of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Kremlin were withdrawn 500 meters from the named objects. During the period from August 21 to August 27, the losses of the 7th Division amounted to 21 people: Private N.I. died. Byankin, 5 officers and 15 soldiers and sergeants were wounded.”
For the first time, data on irretrievable losses in Operation Danube was published by the Izvestia newspaper on February 25. 1995 According to her data, the losses were 99 people.
The book “Russia and the USSR in the Wars of the 20th Century” indicates the number 98, and another 87 people were killed in sanitary losses. In the “Book of Memory of the Central Geographical Command” there are 98 dead, without two APN journalists (the helicopter in which they were flying was fired from the ground with a machine gun, crashed and burned). The collection “Czechoslovak events of 1968 through the eyes of the KGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR” (2010) gives a figure of 100 dead. And the result of the research conducted by Vladislav Suntsev was the figure of 106 casualties. However, this figure is not final and raises doubts, because most combat reports are still classified. In 1968, V. Suntsev headed a detachment to combat counter-revolution and spies; he still collects information about the dead that are not included in official data (he lives in Zhitomir).
An interesting answer came from the Central Archives of the RF Ministry of Defense to a request from the Volgograd Veterans Council (section “Danube-68”, G. Tikhonin). Military archivists, in particular, write (saved unchanged): “In accordance with the order of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation No. 1414 dated June 4, 2012 in Central Archives The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, in accordance with the established procedure, began work on declassifying documents for the period 1946 - 1982.
In the course of the planned work, documents from the 20th Panzer Division may soon be selected for consideration first of all for possible declassification.
We inform you that in the documents of the 20th Tank Division there are no books recording personnel losses and no orders for awarding division personnel.
The information of interest is in the files with operational reports, combat reports from the headquarters, reports on the combat and numerical strength of 20 TD during the period of the Danube exercises.
Dead end! And, apparently, not at all random.
Retired Major General Vitaly Shevchenko, chairman of the Rostov regional public organization “Danube-68”, says: “... we appealed to almost all the highest echelons of power - the Federation Council, the State Duma, and the government. Our arguments are that people died or were shell-shocked and injured while performing their international duty. We also contacted the Legislative Assembly of the Rostov Region, where more than 300 participants in those events live. State Duma deputies made a request to the Ministry of Defense and received a paradoxical answer: “Your appeal to classify as combat veterans those who performed military duty in the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1968 has been considered... The General Staff of the RF Armed Forces does not confirm the fact of the participation of military personnel of the USSR Armed Forces in combat operations in Czechoslovakia in 1968."
Strange situation. Soviet troops, according to this version, did not take part in the Czech events, while Army General Nikolai Ogarkov, being at that time the first deputy chief of the General Staff, led military operations in Prague, signed orders for combat use equipment and personnel and sent combat reports to the Central Committee and the government, and suddenly this answer.
There is all the evidence that our soldiers and soldiers of the allied armies took part in the hostilities.
Commanding airborne troops General V. Margelov clearly wrote in the report that his subordinates from the 7th and 103rd airborne divisions directly took part in the battles on the territory of Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Logs of combat operations were established, which are kept exclusively during combat. For each gun, tank, and aircraft, three rounds of ammunition were issued; soldiers and officers received triple the amount of ammunition.
And here are excerpts from the response of the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs G.N. Karelova to the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Volgograd Region V.A. Rostovshchikov (07/03/2012), who decided to help veterans of his region with identifying their social status: “... Your appeal to the Chairman of the State Duma S.E. Naryshkin on the issue of classifying as combat veterans those who performed military duty in the Republic of Czechoslovakia in 1968, on his instructions, was considered in the State Duma Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs...
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation does not confirm the fact of the participation of military personnel of the USSR Armed Forces in hostilities in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
Thus, a legislative solution to the issue of making additions to the List of states, territories and periods of hostilities with the participation of citizens of the Russian Federation (Appendix to the Federal Law “On Veterans”) is possible only if the Russian Ministry of Defense confirms the facts of hostilities on the territory of Czechoslovakia in 1968 year." (Note: the State Duma requires only facts of military operations to legislatively resolve the problem.)
Participants in Czechoslovak events are ready to provide them. There are probably a lot of such facts in the archives, too. However, the acting head of the Main Directorate for Work with Personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, M. Smyslov, informs the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Volgograd Region V.A. Rostovshchikov that “Your appeal to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation on the issue of amending the Federal Law of January 12, 1995 No. 5-FZ “On Veterans” (hereinafter referred to as the Federal Law) regarding establishing the status of a combat veteran for military personnel who took part in participation in the military-strategic operation “Danube-68” (there was no operation with that name! – V.P.) on the territory of Czechoslovakia, in the Main Directorate for Work with Personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, it was considered...
Fighting with the participation of Soviet troops during the political crisis in Czechoslovakia Socialist Republic in 1968 were not carried out, only isolated military clashes took place.
In the mentioned order of the USSR Minister of Defense dated October 17, 1968 No. 242 we're talking about about the performance of international duty by military personnel, and not about their participation in hostilities.
In this regard, there are no grounds for classifying citizens of the Russian Federation who took part in the military-strategic operation on the territory of Czechoslovakia “Danube-68” as combatants.”
Let me remind you that in the post-war period the USSR sent troops into foreign territories three times: into Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan. All three countries border on the USSR, traditionally fall within the sphere of interests of Russia/USSR, and as for Hungary and Czechoslovakia, they were, first of all, members of the socialist community, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the military-political organization - the Warsaw Pact with the corresponding international status and with all the ensuing responsibilities and consequences.
The United States, I note, used its troops abroad more than 50 times in the second half of the 20th century alone, and everyone who participated in these wars and military conflicts is clearly recognized as war veterans. For life, with appropriate pensions, benefits and regardless of the political situation. America has never condemned any of its armed interventions in the internal affairs of other states, despite the fact that the American people protested.
In a strategic study conducted by a group of scientists under the general editorship of Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor of the Academy of Sciences, Colonel General G.F. Krivosheev, in Chapter VI, dedicated to the losses of Soviet military personnel in 1946 - 1991, says: “In military conflicts post-war period The participation of Soviet military personnel can be divided into several main areas...
The third area of participation of Soviet military personnel in conflicts abroad is the implementation of decisions of the highest political leadership of the USSR to preserve the unity of the socialist camp and the inviolability of the Warsaw Pact Organization.
A large number of Soviet military personnel were involved in these actions, of which more than 800 people. died."
The authors of the study provide, among other things, data that would be useful for those who signed the above-cited answers to become familiar with. It's useful to compare. Our irrecoverable losses amounted, for example, in Algeria (1962 - 1964) 25 people, in the Yemen Arab Republic (1962 - 1963, 1967 - 1969) - 2 people, in Vietnam (1961 - 1974) - 16 people, in Laos (1960 - 1963, 1964 - 1968, 1969 - 1970) - 5 people, in Angola (1975 - 1979) - 11 people, in Mozambique (1967 - 1969, 1975 - 1979, 1984 - 1987) - 8 people. This series is long, and in terms of the number of Soviet losses, Czechoslovakia occupies one of the first places in it. This is despite the fact that “no military operations were conducted there, but only isolated military clashes took place”! Where did the combat losses come from? And, in general, the opposition between “combat operations” and “military clashes” defies any logic.
In 2007, the newspaper Argumenty Nedeli published an article entitled “The General Staff has counted losses.” The beginning of the publication is as follows: “Before Victory Day, the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces prepared a report on the irretrievable losses of troops in combat operations, starting with Soviet period and ending with our days." Pay attention to the words “about irretrievable losses of troops in combat operations.” The publication further reports: “Not only with money, but also with human lives Soviet Union paid for international assistance in various areas of the world. For example, during the Korean War (1950-1953), the USSR lost 299 people. The suppression of the uprising in Hungary in 1956 cost the lives of 750 Soviet soldiers. The entry of troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 was also not bloodless. During this operation, 96 soldiers and officers of the Soviet Army were killed. In Asia and Africa, 145 Soviet military advisers met their deaths during various conflicts.” In fact, the General Staff admitted that military operations were taking place in Czechoslovakia. What has changed over the past six years?
Colonel General Vladimir Bulgakov says with bitterness: “The status of combat veterans, along with participants in the war in Afghanistan, is given to fighters from all other military conflicts - with the exception of Czechoslovakia. Why? After all, the blood of our soldiers was shed there too.”
At the same time, in neighboring Ukraine this problem was solved back in 1994 with the adoption of the law “On the status of war veterans, their guarantees” social protection", which defines the categories of war veterans, including disabled people, war participants, combatants, and persons who are subject to the status of a combatant. The list of countries where Soviet soldiers took part in hostilities includes Czechoslovakia.
And in 2004, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma issued a decree “On the day of honoring participants in hostilities on the territory of other states.” Let us note that the decree appeared on the basis of the decision taken by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to include Czechoslovakia (1968) in the list of countries where hostilities took place. With this decree, the President of Ukraine practically once again confirmed that former soldiers and officers who took part in the defense of social gains in Czechoslovakia in 1968 were given the status of “Combatant”, “War Veteran” and were provided with benefits within the framework of the Law of Ukraine “On the Status of Veterans” war, guarantees of their social protection.”
It is very important that these documents legally establish the period of hostilities: August 20, 1968 - January 1, 1969. Who served in the army at that time? Soviet troops ah on the territory of Czechoslovakia - in Ukraine he is unconditionally recognized as a participant in hostilities with the corresponding rights and benefits.
Participants in the Czechoslovak events of 1968 living in Russia, unlike their fellow soldiers, residents of Ukraine, did not receive any status, although the risk was the same as in all local events of this kind. The paradox is that where death and destruction were massive (Hungary - 1956, Egypt - 1956, 1967, 1973, Vietnam - 1964-1972, etc.), the participants in the events received the status of combatants. And the participants in the events in Czechoslovakia, where neither massive irreparable losses nor destruction of infrastructure were allowed, were not even remembered and are not remembered (at least about those who live on Russian territory). Not only were they not removed from the list of participants in hostilities, they were not even going to be included there. Who is this time to please?
This problem automatically entails another insoluble problem. It is about this that Alexander Zasetsky, awarded the Order of the Red Star for Operation Danube, writes: « I served in Dnepropetrovsk and there I had a certificate of combat participation: in Ukraine in 1994, a law was passed recognizing us as veterans. In 2003, for family reasons, he moved here to Russia. And now here I am not a participant in hostilities - because in Russian law about veterans, soldiers who fought in Czechoslovakia were not included. But I am the same person. And the events in 1968 were the same. How Is that so?”
There are many similar stories. And the point here is not so much about benefits, but about restoring justice to former Soviet military personnel. The international strategic operation Danube, which prevented destabilization in Central Europe, played vital role in maintaining regional and global security. Its participants living in Russia have earned the right to be called internationalist warriors.
By the way, the legal conflicts in which A. Zasetsky and many other veterans who came from Ukraine found themselves might not have happened if the social protection authorities of the Russian Ministry of Defense had complied with the international agreements signed within the CIS on the unconditional legalization of all pension documents. Russia ignores them.
And one more thing: we have Gazprom - a national treasure, which does not exist in Ukraine and is not expected.
But for now, our veteran organizations are borrowing commemorative medals made in Ukraine for the 45th anniversary of the entry of Soviet troops into Czechoslovakia...
It's a shame, gentlemen, oh, how shameful!
Relatively recently, on the initiative of former participants in the 1968 events in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, a regional public organization of internationalist soldiers (as they call themselves illegally!) “Danube-68”, which numbers about 300 people, was created in the Rostov region. All of them are 60 years old or older, but they dared to stand up to defend... No, not the Motherland - they have already fulfilled this duty long ago. We finally decided to try to protect our rights. Similar organizations have been created in the Volgograd region, Tatarstan, Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Kabardino-Balkaria, Ulyanovsk, Voronezh... The movement of veterans of the Czechoslovak events of 1968 is gaining strength. But will the veterans themselves have enough strength and time?
Even today I am sure that under the words of Colonel General Vladimir Bulgakov « We defended our own national interests,” every participant in the military events of those distant years will sign.
Special for the Centenary
A proposal to recognize the status of war veterans for Soviet participants in the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was submitted to the State Duma by three communist deputies. The goal of the “military-strategic operation Danube,” in their opinion, was to suppress the coup in Czechoslovakia, which the Czechoslovak opposition was preparing with the help of Western countries.
The proposal was criticized by representatives of the Czech opposition party TOP 09 due to “distortion of history.” The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet commented on this proposal.
Participants in Operation Danube 68 are seeking to ensure that their status is the same as that of Soviet soldiers who fought in the Great Patriotic War. Patriotic War, in Afghanistan, Syria and other bloody conflicts. A bill that would provide them not only with respect from the public as having defended their homeland, albeit far beyond its borders, but also with a number of financial benefits, including increased pensions and significant benefits for housing and utilities, has already been submitted to the Russian parliament.
This week it was introduced by communist deputies Nikolai Kolomeytsev, Sergei Reshulsky and Yuri Sinelshchikov. At the same time, not only deputies and politicians, but also the media call the seizure of Czechoslovakia in a variety of terms, but not occupation. For example, the state agency RIA Novosti writes about the military-strategic Operation Danube, the purpose of which was to prevent a coup in Czechoslovakia.
“They showed courage and firmness”
The deputies themselves, the authors of the bill, in justifying the law, state: “We must admit that in the conditions of martial law in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in the period from August 21 to November 1968, in the performance of their military duty, they showed courage and firmness, therefore we consider it necessary that in relation to Historical and social justice was established for these people.” They present this justice in the form of changes to the federal law “On Veterans,” which should be expanded to include participants in the occupation of Czechoslovakia.
It is unclear whether the bill will pass in the State Duma. On the sidelines, members of other factions expressed concerns that this “election campaign” Communist Party Russia could cause a negative reaction from Prague and ultimately lead to problems for modern army Russians living in the Czech Republic. As independent deputy Dmitry Gudkov said, this initiative of legislators will not go unnoticed by the Czech Embassy in Moscow and will cause a certain reaction in Prague.
Arguments are a shameful falsification, as Schwarzenberg says
The leadership of the opposition party TOP 09 has already responded to the amendments to the law being prepared in the Russian parliament. “We reject any historical shifts in events associated with 1968. The arguments that Russian deputies give for the bill are a shameful falsification of events. Just like the justification for the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in 1968 in general. Like, this operation was supposed to protect Czechoslovakia from a NATO attack,” writes honorary party chairman Karel Schwarzenberg, MEP Jaromir Štetina and first deputy chairman Marek Jenišek.
“As TOP 09 politicians included in Putin’s list of undesirable persons who are prohibited from entering the territory of the Russian Federation, we call on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to invite the Russian Ambassador to the Czech Republic for an explanation. At the same time, we demand that the Czech ambassador in Moscow also take steps on this issue.”
"Counter-revolution orchestrated from Washington"
Military veterans of the occupation forces have been seeking the status of military veterans for several years now. They have united in regional organizations and maintain contact, including through social networks and web pages of veteran organizations.
In 2013, many of them tried to achieve the same thing that the communists are proposing today - to change the law “On Veterans”. The Russian public supported the right of participants in Operation Danube-68 to veteran status, and in the media and in social networks a discussion ensued, from which it follows that the Russians do not make any historical mistakes.
Context
The Czech Republic remembers the anniversary of the occupation
Radio Prague 08/22/2015The police were faster than in 1968
iDNES.cz 08/26/20131968. 2013. Red Square.
Radio Liberty 08/25/2013The prevailing belief remains that Moscow prevented the NATO occupation of Czechoslovakia, and that “the counter-revolution called the Prague Spring was orchestrated from Washington.”
Moscow’s fears in 1968, by the way, are comparable to those expressed by Russian President Vladimir Putin today: it is impossible to allow the troops of a hostile military bloc to concentrate at the borders of Russia, like the USSR then. Therefore, the participants in the invasion of Czechoslovakia perceived and perceive this entire operation as a military one.
Russian soldiers thought they were going to war
“We were all sure that we were going to war. None of us, and I was a twenty-year-old lieutenant then, knew whether we would return home,” Valery Panov wrote three years ago on the Military Revival portal. He and his colleagues convincingly say that the world was threatened by nuclear war, and they, by occupying Czechoslovakia, prevented it. According to Panov, there were hundreds of weapons depots and about three thousand CIA agents throughout Czechoslovakia.
Even today, it is justified by the imaginary resistance of Czech counter-revolutionaries, so that we can talk about real battles and grant their participants the status of combat veterans. General Vladimir Bulgakov, for example, claims that there were battles, but about them, according to political reasons, it was impossible to speak then. “The time has come to admit that we were resisted, although most of the weapons and military equipment remained in warehouses, which were instantly captured by Allied troops. Only thanks to this, the Czech army was not able to launch a large-scale military operation. In 1968, the Czechoslovak army numbered 200 thousand people.”
In connection with the desire to implement the law in Russia, the losses suffered by the Soviets are also emphasized. According to the commander of the 38th Army, General Mayorov, the Czechs set fire to seven infantry fighting vehicles with Molotov cocktails. Some cars allegedly burned along with the crew. More than 300 cars were also destroyed. From August 21 to October 20, 11 soldiers died while performing military duty, according to Mayorov.
Accidents and improper handling of weapons claimed more lives
However, other official data are also interesting: over the same period, 85 Soviet military personnel died in various accidents, due to careless handling of weapons and other non-military reasons. So the awkwardness turned out to be more fatal for the Soviet soldiers.
It is not entirely clear what category of losses to include the victims of the accident that happened on August 21 on the highway between Presov and Poprad in Slovakia. According to Russian media, then women, fooled by “extremists,” came out onto the highway along with children to stop Russian tanks. The driver of the first car in the convoy did not want to run into a group of people and directed the tank into a ditch. Yuri Andreev, Pyotr Kazarin and Evgeny Makhotin burned on the spot. “There is not even a small monument on site,” complains the Russian portal topwar.
There were a number of similar incidents in Prague, and in addition, the Czechoslovaks often “treacherously shot from cover” at soldiers. If General Mayorov in his official report cites 11 victims of fighting in two months, then the participants in the operation themselves claim on their veteran websites that there were many more dead. Thus, according to Lieutenant Panov, 21 people died from August 21 to August 27 alone. In February 1995, the Izvestia newspaper wrote that the total losses were 99 people, without, however, indicating whether most of the soldiers died in accidents or shot themselves.
Europe in the grip of the USA
The emotions of former soldiers are one thing, and the position of Russian legislators is another. According to communist deputies, the law needs to be discussed as soon as possible, because this August will mark 48 years since the events in Czechoslovakia, and their participants are aging. In the commentary to the law, the authors emphasize that in Czechoslovakia, without a doubt, there was a threat of an anti-state coup, which “was prepared by the Czechoslovak opposition, relying on the support of Western countries.”
All this happened because censorship was “weakened.” According to the deputies, not only the Americans, but also “the Nazis and representatives of the reactionary clergy” were preparing for an attack on the socialist bloc. The communists also list the armies that were ready to invade Czechoslovakia if Moscow had not intervened: the United States, Britain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium. Moreover, deputies call these countries “Hitler’s heirs.”
In addition, the authors of the bill regret that the operation was not completed, which would have prevented the growth of influence of the EU and the United States in Central Europe after 1990. “The countries of Eastern Europe have lost their sovereignty, and their economic potential has sharply declined, as well as the standard of living of their citizens,” claim Russian communists.
It's about money
If the State Duma passes a law with such justification, it will mean that Moscow officially considers the invasion Soviet army in Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, with friendly assistance to the fraternal people who were under threat, as well as the legitimate protection of their territorial interests. However, so far the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has responded to the participants in Operation Danube-68 to a request for changes as follows: “The participation of soldiers of the USSR Armed Forces in the battles in Czechoslovakia in 1968 has not been confirmed.” Allegedly, only isolated violent clashes were noted. And this is not enough to grant veteran status.
But if the participants in Operation Danube-68 had stopped arguing about the ideological background of the operation and focused on money, which is primarily discussed when changing the law, perhaps they would have long ago had the same pensions and benefits that they have fellow Afghan soldiers. Argue new law the fact that “ours prevented the invasion of NATO troops into Czechoslovakia,” according to deputy Oksana Dmitrieva, is tactless. Benefits are available to all participants in foreign operations, regardless of the ideological background of the action.
Next in line is Hungary
However, only those who served in Czechoslovakia from August 21 to the end of November 1968, who are today over 67 years of age, and who need “moral, and partly additional material and social support states." Anyone who arrived in Czechoslovakia after November 30, 1968 will under no circumstances be considered combat veterans.
Today, about 20 thousand military personnel of the occupation forces live in Russia. Many of them already receive various types of benefits either as disabled people or as veterans of labor or veterans military service. There are a huge number of categories in Russia that are eligible for benefits and state assistance, and almost anyone has a chance to enter one or another.
But the four thousand soldiers who occupied Czechoslovakia in August 1968 were allegedly left without any benefits at all. For them, the necessary funds may already be found in the 2017 budget - you just need to vote for the new law. Another initiative of the communists, in their own words, should be to grant the status of combat veterans to participants in the operation in Hungary in 1956.
The arguments of Russian deputies and their justification for the occupation of Czechoslovakia, however, are considered by Czech deputies from TOP 09 to be a “shameful falsification” of events. “We reject any historical displacement of events related to 1968,” the party’s honorary chairman Karel Schwarzenberg, MEP Jaromir Stetina and TOP 09 first deputy chairman Marek Jenišek wrote in a press release.
They also called on Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek (ČSSD) to invite the Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic for an explanation. “At the same time, we demand that the Czech ambassador in Moscow also take steps on this issue,” they said. So far the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic has not commented on the Russian bill, but Irena Valentova from the press service of the department told the ČTK agency that a statement is being prepared.
