THE EVOLUTION OF CZECHIA’S SECURITY POLICY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

Abstract

For now, almost all spheres of international life are in the process of transformation. A particularly high level of turbulence characterizes European security, which has faced numerous challenges over the past decade such as the migration crisis, terrorist acts, the COVID-19 pandemic, information threats, etc. Directly threatening the European Union’s eastern borders, Russia’s full-scale invasion has become one of the most crucial security challenges. In this regard, the EU and NATO member states have to review their approaches to ensuring security and stability. Due to Czechia’s membership in both of these blocs and its geographical proximity to a war zone, its security policy has undertaken changes at the current stage, which this article covered.This article defines the reasons for the evolution of the security policy of the Czech Republic. It is worth noting that due to its geographic proximity to the war zone, Czechia perceives Russia’s aggression as a direct threat to its national security. Apart from Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the assessment of Russia’s perception of the country is influenced by the Russian military intelligence services’ involvement in the explosions at Czech weapons warehouses in 2014 and Russia’s espionage activities as well. Thus, the increasing regional tensions and the political crisis in international relations prompted the Czech Republic to revise its key security and defense files, according to which Russia and China have been defined as the main security threats.Moreover, the author concludes that support for Ukraine became part of Czechia’s security policy, where the country demonstrated its clear position and declared its intention to sign a security agreement with Ukraine. Also, it is necessary to commend the importance of Czechia’s artillery shells initiative to Ukraine. The Czech Republic has taken several practical steps to respond to security threats increasing its defense spending to 2% of GDP and investments in the defense industry, along with modernizing the military forces and diversifying energy resources in order to get rid of Russia’s dependence. Accordingly, a comprehensive approach to reacting to new security challenges and threats can minimize their impact on Czechia’s security in the future.