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Putin accepts moral responsibility for Czech invasion
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Putin accepts moral responsibility for Czech invasion
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country accepts ?moral? but not ?legal? responsibility for the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion that started the Cold War occupation of the former Czechoslovakia.
Putin made the comment on his first of two days in Prague, where locals over age 40 vividly remember Soviet tanks rolling through the city.
?We do not bear any legal responsibility, but there is moral responsibility,? Putin said at a press conference with Czech President Vaclav Klaus.
At the same time, Putin warned against critics who dig up the invasion?s history ?to foment anti-Russian attitudes?.
The invasion by Russian, Polish, Bulgarian and other troops was ordered by the Kremlin to quash the Prague Spring reform movement of Alexander Dubcek.
After Dubcek?s ouster, the troops and Kremlin-friendly communists retained power until the 1989 Velvet Revolution restored democracy.
Bitter memories of the occupation have tainted Czech relations with Russia ever since, although Klaus and Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek this week cited strengthening ties between Prague and Moscow.
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