These are the agreements that the former Communist Republic of Czechoslovakia had with the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. They suffered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the partition of Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s: Russia continued to benefit from this arrangement.
According to the Czech Communist News Agency, Russia was thus able to use 59 plots of land and buildings in the Czech Republic for free. The Russian Embassy in Prague is not included, but there are many buildings in the area, she says. In addition to the capital, there are also locations in Brno – the Czech Republic’s second city – and the spa town of Carlsbad.
From now on, the plots will be leased, says Lipavsky, “to avoid illicit enrichment.” Thus, the Secretary of State points out that some plots of land were used for commercial rather than diplomatic purposes.
Relations between Prague and Moscow have deteriorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February last year. In April, the Czech government gave the go-ahead for defense cooperation with the United States. The agreement facilitates the stationing of US military personnel in the country, which has been a member of the Western defense alliance NATO since 1999.
