Czech, Slovak FMs Dismiss Munich 1938 Comparison to Ukraine Talks

The Czech Republic and Slovakia on Tuesday dismissed parallels between the 1938 Munich agreement – a pre-World War II deal with Nazi Germany – and current US-Russia talks on Ukraine.

Western European governments today fear they, and Ukraine itself, are being sidelined over the war in Ukraine, just as what was then Czechoslovakia was almost 90 years ago.

The pre-World War II deal between European leaders and Nazi Germany handed swathes of Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler.

It has been seen as a model of appeasement and a move emboldening Hitler on the path to launching World War II.

Czechoslovakia, which emerged in 1918 and split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993, was left out of the talks.

Several European leaders at a security conference in Munich last week drew parallels between the 1938 deal and Europe’s current position, on the sidelines of talks between the United States and Russia on ending Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

“We reject any comparison to Munich 1938,” Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar told reporters in Prague after meeting his Czech counterpart Jan Lipavsky.

“It’s completely different today. Ukraine – the subject of the decision-making – will be at the table and has to be. We can’t do it without Ukraine,” Blanar added.

“The European Union, considering its numerous activities vis-a-vis the Russian Federation and linked to this war, must also be at the table in the phase when it should be,” he said.

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Lipavsky and Blanar met at a time when the Czech and Slovak governments disagree on aid to Ukraine.

While Prague advocates substantial arms supplies to Kyiv, Bratislava has vowed to stop providing weapons to help defend war-ravaged Ukraine.

Slovakia provides humanitarian aid as well as electricity to Ukraine.

But Prime Minister Robert Fico, who leads a wobbly nationalist three-party coalition, has been fostering close ties with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. 

Lipavsky, for his part, shrugged off the Munich agreement comparison.

“If we (Europe) take steps that will make us relevant, the talks will not happen without us,” he said.

“If we are strong enough, it won’t be about us without us,” he added.