Thank you Tony,
Dear Dmytro,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am pleased that we have a chance to discuss this key issue right at the beginning of the Summit. The Russian war against Ukraine has already taken too many lives and destroyed too many homes of innocent people. We all are desperately looking for peace. We all, but one man, wish to see the end of this war. This man is Vladimir Putin. The International Criminal Court has finally charged him with war crimes and issued an arrest warrant against him.

I have heard a lot of comments suggesting that he will never appear before of the ICC or Special Tribunal for Prosecution of the Crimes of Aggression, the establishment of which Czechia strongly advocates. I have also heard many voices suggesting that Ukraine will not have enough strength and capabilities to fully restore its territorial integrity. That it is not possible or that it is too risky and too dangerous to try to liberate Crimea. That Vladimir Putin will not give up the peninsula; that he will not give up Ukraine, which he so arrogantly claims he is entitled to. That the US, the European Union and the West cannot sustain the long term military and financial support of Ukraine because of their own economic burdens.

Many say that Ukraine is too weak and Russia too strong, that Ukrainians must negotiate and must compromise and give up some of its territory. That is exactly what happened to Czechoslovakia prior to the Second World War. Many European leaders believed at that time that the ceding of significant parts of my country in the autumn of 1938 to Hitler would bring peace. “Peace for our time”, some of them said. That is exactly what Vladimir Putin wants – force us and Ukraine to give in and accept his so-called peace proposals in order to prepare Russia for an even bigger war.

It is vital to achieve A Just and Lasting Peace in Ukraine. It is not an option, it is a necessity. Ukraine is by no means weak – because Ukrainian citizens are strong. We saw this in the very first days of the Russian aggression and we have been witnessing it every single day since. They are fighting – not just for their territory and their homes, but for values we all share. Ukrainians are dying for freedom of speech, for democracy, for the simple principle that borders shall not be changed by force.

We need to support brave Ukrainians and make sure they will have all the means to restore the territorial integrity of their country – including Crimea. We need to make sure that war crimes committed by Russian troops under the orders of Putin do not go unpunished. Only then can peace be fair and lasting.
Thank you.

Speech by Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky on the opening day of the second edition of the Summit for Democracy