03 May 2024, Friday, 14:51 723

Czech Republic does not support Ukrainian men who try to avoid military conscription - Foreign Ministry head

Editor: Daria Zubkova

Читати українською

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The Czech Republic does not support those Ukrainian men who try to avoid conscription.

This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Lipavsky, Novinky writes.

"I understand the problem of the departure of Ukrainian men of conscription age. The Czech Republic has long supported Ukrainian refugees and we accept them on our territory. But not those who try to avoid conscription," Lipavsky said.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic noted that there are 94,643 men aged from 18 to 65 in the country who have temporary protection in connection with the war in Ukraine.

However, the state's options are limited when it comes to mandatory return.

"The Czech state has no legal grounds for this. It cannot deprive someone of temporary protection just because it decided so," said Vera Honusková, an expert in international law from the Faculty of Law of Charles University.

She sees a theoretical way out in the fact that Ukraine sends a summons, but abroad the person does not comply with it. Then Ukraine could prosecute such a citizen and demand his extradition from abroad for committing a crime.

One way may be to limit the issuance of passports, which the Ukrainian authorities recently resorted to.

"Every Ukrainian who has temporary protection with us is obliged to confirm this with a valid travel document where he has temporary protection. If he does not do this, he faces a fine of up to five thousand crowns and the possibility of administrative proceedings with the aim of deportation," said Josef Urban, spokesman of the Foreign Police Office.

However, the validity of the passport is ten years, so it is not worth expecting a mass return of Ukrainians to their homeland in the near future.

It will be recalled that the Polish Minister of Defense stated that Poland is ready to help Ukraine return men of conscription age.

Also, Lithuania can help return men of military age to Ukraine.