Pavel is attending his first National Security Council meeting as president. Photo credit: Petr Pavel, via Facebook.
Prague, April 11 (CTK) – New Czech President Petr Pavel, who assumed office on 9 March, will attend the regular meeting of the National Security Council (BRS) for the first time on Wednesday afternoon, the Government Office told CTK yesterday.
In the morning, the president will visit the Czech military command.
The Government Office did not provide further details on the planned agenda of the BRS meeting. However, it will most likely concern the situation in Ukraine, which the president plans to visit in April, and the consequences of the Russian invasion.
BRS last met on 15 February, when it assessed the NATO exercises held last year and discussed those to be held this year.
BRS is a permanent working body of the government to coordinate national security issues. Its members are the Prime Minister and other cabinet members decided by the government, in accordance with the law on national security. The president also has the right to attend BRS meetings.
Its regular meetings are held at least once in three months. Former president Milos Zeman did not attend them.
Pavel could have been invited to BRS meetings between 2012 and 2015 when he was the Czech army chief of staff.
On Wednesday morning, the president will visit the General Staff of the Czech Military and meet current Chief of Staff Karel Rehka.
Vlastimila Cyprisova, from the press department of the General Staff, said they would discuss the course of the military, its modernization projects and new military capabilities.
“They will also address the current situation in Ukraine and military assistance to the country. They will discuss NATO plans and the revision of the Czech army’s plans,” she told CTK.
Last week, Pavel discussed the security situation with Defence Minister Jana Cernochova (ODS). She informed him about the Czech Republic’s further military aid to Ukraine worth some CZK 600 to 700 million crowns, and presented him with a list of the aid the country had previously sent to Ukraine.
Cernochova and Pavel also discussed the proposal for appointing generals, as well as defence-related laws passed by the Chamber of Deputies. She informed him about the approval of the mandate to send military police officers to Ukraine and special forces to Niger, and the development of acquisitions worth billions of crowns for the purchase of tracked infantry fighting vehicles and supersonic aircraft.
