Well dear readers, as tempting as it is to write some puerile drivel about just how fashionably unaware Jessica Satherley of the Daily Mail is, regarding what is considered “racy bondage gear” here in Ukraine in her article about Rihanna in Donetsk, and I can assure her that in every nightclub in Ukraine you will find far better looking ladies in far more “racy” clothing than that on a daily basis, today will will stick to topics more in keeping with Ukrainian foreign relations.
You will remember some months ago I wrote about the Czech Republic giving political asylum to former Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn who was wanted for questioning over dubious dealings here.
Well, a few days ago, unsurprisingly, two Czech Republic diplomats were expelled from Ukraine for spying. The response from the Czech Republic was “There is a suspicion that this is not about spying, but a response to granting asylum to Ukraine’s ex-Minister of Economy Bohdan Danylyshyn,” according to the spokesperson for Karel Swartzenberg, Foreign Minister of the Czech Republic.
Now, whether or not these diplomats have been expelled for spying or in relatiation over the politicial asylum granted to Danylyshyn, this statement is not the usual robust denials associated to the expulsion of diplomats accused of spying regularly stated by nations around the world. It seems rather weak given the long and illustrious list of diplomatic rebuttals when these things have happened before.
This weak statement has handed Ukraine the upper hand, with Oleh Voloshyn of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stating “Since diplomats have immunity from prosecution, they were not brought to justice on the territory of Ukraine, but were expelled.” He went on to say “As for Danylyshyn, he has never been a factor molding our stand towards the official Prague.”
It also allowed him to continue to stress that Ukraine will continue pursue its security interests just as you would expect any government person to do under such circumstances.
Undoubtedly the Czech Republic would have expected some form of response from Ukraine over giving political asylum to somebody on the wanted list. It maybe a formal demarche was not deemed to be sufficient response by the Ukrainian leadership as it is less than public in its appearance. Maybe a more public payback was deemed necessary.
This does not though, deal with the issue of such a weak statement from the Czech Republic that does not even go so far as to deny the spying allegations outright.
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