Prague - “Russia cold-bloodedly exploited the weakness of Ukraine, the weakness of the Ukrainian government, especially the unfortunate move of the language law, because only an idiot can ban a third of the population from using the native language,” said Czech President Milos Zeman in an interview with Aktualne.cz about the current situation in Crimea.

The Czech Republic should work with the European Union to help Ukraine. “Our task is to make Ukraine stronger, that's why I welcome the forthcoming signature of the association treaty between Ukraine and the European Union, because it is the only way of how Ukraine can be an equal partner to Russia,” said Zeman.

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“Crimea is sort of unique, historically and because of its linguistic composition. No part (of Ukraine) has such a high proportion of Russian speaking population as Crimea, and historically, Crimea never formed part of Ukraine until (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev gave it to Ukraine in the year 1954. So the geopolitical situation is a bit different there.”

“I think that if Russia is reasonable, it will not try to create more conflicts in Eastern Ukraine. And, in order to have a really strong and competent government, Ukraine would benefit from getting rid of fascist extremists and adopting a federal system,” the president also said.

According to the president, Crimea is lost to Ukraine in the short term.

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