Czech president believes surveillance of all Russians in West should be strengthened

The President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, believes that all Russians currently living in Western countries should be more closely monitored by security services than before the war.

Pavel expressed the opinion in an interview with RFE/RL, reports Ukrinform.

"I think that... while the war is going on, the security measures toward Russian citizens should be stricter than under normal conditions. All Russians living in Western countries should be more closely monitored than in the past. Because they are citizens of a country that is waging a war of aggression," Pavel said.

He remarked that he felt sorry for these people. At the same time, the president of the Czech Republic recalled that when World War 2 began, all Japanese living in the United States were under strict surveillance.

To a clarifying question about the surveillance measures, the Czech leader said he meant the surveillance run by special services.

As reported earlier, on June 8, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania informed the ambassador of the Russian Federation in Bucharest about the reduction of the staff of the diplomatic mission. According to the decision of the Romanian authorities, the Russian Federation should cut the number of positions in the embassy in Romania by 51. These are 21 diplomatic positions and 30 positions of technical and administrative personnel.