Andriy Babish, who will compete in the second round for the post of president of the Czech Republic, said that he would not send the Czech military to defend the Baltic States and Poland in the event of an attack by Russia, and then clarified that he did not mean ignoring Art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
This is reported by iROZHLAS.
In a televised debate, he was asked whether the Czech Republic should honor its alliance obligations and send troops to defend allies if Russia attacked, for example, the Baltic states or Poland.
"No, of course not. I think we need to talk about peace. As I talk about it, it's purely theoretical. I want peace, I don't want war. In no way could I send our children and the children of our women to war. We must prevent war," said Babish.
Babis later clarified his answer on Twitter. "I am convinced that it will not come to this, I do not want to allow this to happen... But if the attack had actually happened, of course, I would have complied with my obligations under Article 5. There is no question of that," Andriy Babish wrote.
At the same time, he did not mention in his explanation that he would agree to help the allies, including the participation of Czech troops. Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty does not define specific obligations regarding assistance.
The second round of elections, in which Babis will compete with ex-NATO general Petro Pavl, will take place on January 27-28.