Russian non-parliamentary opposition politician Leonid Gozman reproached President Vladimir Putin for not apologizing to Czechs and Slovaks for the suppression of the Prague Spring on the occasion of the Soviet invasion´s 50th anniversary.
“The Russian Federation is the legal successor of the USSR. The country that invaded Czechoslovakia 50 years ago, burying not only the Prague Spring but also the hopes of reforming the communist system,” wrote Gozman on Facebook. But not only the past, also the relationship to it, is important. As a citizen of Russia, Gozman therefore called on the one who now leads the country to appear on television and ask the Czechs and Slovaks for forgiveness.
In 2006, Putin recognized Russia’s moral responsibility for the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968, condemning the act, but declined that Russia should apologize for it, as he thought it held no responsibility for this action.
