Russia's victory in the war against Ukraine would be a defeat for the entire West, Czech President Petr Pavel said in an interview The Sunday Times.
Pavel compared the West's current behavior to the policy of appeasement on the eve of World War II.
According to him, recent statements about secret negotiations between the US and Russia, in particular about the transfer of Ukrainian territories, are dangerously reminiscent of the Munich Agreement of 1938.
"If we allow Russia to emerge victorious from this conflict, we will all lose," the Czech president emphasized.
He drew a historical parallel between the Nazi exploitation of the German minority in the Sudetenland and the Russian narrative of "protecting Russians."
"The same narrative is used by Vladimir Putin," - he said.
Pavel is confident that the West is not betraying Ukraine the way it once betrayed Czechoslovakia, but is demonstrating "an unwillingness to defend the principles it supposedly defends."
At the same time, Pavel acknowledged that after the war, Europe would need a new security treaty with Moscow — like the Helsinki Accords of 1975. But only after Russia recognizes the territorial sovereignty of all states and agrees to limit its own aggressive activities.
"We simply cannot allow Ukraine to lose," he emphasized.
