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Czech president, US envoy in rare public spat over Ukraine

April 6, 2015 - 19:42 By 배지숙

PRAGUE (AP) _ Czech President Milos Zeman and the U.S. ambassador to Prague are in a rare public dispute over Zeman's decision to attend a Russian military parade, and Czech lawmakers are siding with the American.

In an interview with online publication Parlamentni Listy on Sunday, Zeman bristled at the envoy's implied criticism of his decision to attend Moscow's traditional May 9 military parade at a time the army has destabilized Ukraine. Zeman said U.S. Ambassador Andrew Shapiro is no longer welcome in the Prague Castle, the seat of presidency.

Parliament's lower house speaker Jan Hamacek said he thought Zeman was overreacting; the deputy speaker of Parliament's upper house Premysl Sobotka said Monday Zeman proved a lack of ``diplomatic thinking.''

Jan Mlejnek, an analyst, says Zeman's rhetoric will harm Czech-U.S. relations.