The famous Czech artist called her photo exhibition “Retreat of Soviet Troops from Czechoslovakia” (the project is a part of celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution in Prague). The topic of this exhibition is extremely relevant in present-day Ukraine, say the Ambassador of the Czech Republic Ivan Pocuch, Czech dissident and human rights activist Petruska Sustrova, director of the Czech Center in Kyiv Liuba Svobodova, and press secretary of the National Sanctuary Complex “Sophia of Kyiv” Yaroslava Paraka at the opening ceremony.
“The withdrawal of Russian troops was a necessary condition of reforms and transformations in the Czech Republic, deep reforms, and changes in mentality in particular,” the Czech Ambassador emphasized.
Former Czech dissident Petruska Sustrova came to the exhibition opening in a T-shirt with a Crimean Tatar emblem. She said: “Today, discussions about the Velvet Revolution and further liberation of the country from the Soviet occupation still continue in the Czech Republic. I am sure that it was a turning point and the main thing is that we gained freedom back then.”
But Yaroslava Paraka’s words during the opening ceremony received the most applause: “I hope that an exhibition ‘Retreat of Russian Troops from Ukraine’ will take place in our complex soon. Today’s exhibition features photos documenting the course of the USSR troop’s withdrawal. The last weeks of the Soviet army’s stay on a foreign territory in 1990-91 are captured in them. There are half-torn down military towns with their funny agitation propaganda (and other weird objects, like penguin-shaped trash bins), soldiers who load goods onto trains and trucks, and other picturesque genre scenes and landscapes, in which we can see a somewhat uneasy and nervous end of the epoch.”
Roman JOCH, director of the Civic Institute, Prague:
“The Czech President Milos Zeman caused great disappointment among a significant part of the Czech society by his politics, views, behavior, and vulgar comments. On November 17, the 25th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution, there was a demonstration during which people threw eggs at Zeman. People are very angry with him and think he disgraces the office of the president with his behavior. They are dissatisfied also by the fact that a lot of his statements were servile in relation to Russia and Putin, in particular in matters regarding Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
The exhibition will be open till December 18.
