Czech president urges Nato to ‘show its teeth’ over Russia’s provocations

The Czech president, Petr Pavel, has urged NATO to “show its teeth” in response to Russia’s repeated testing of the alliance’s resolve on its eastern flank, suggesting a range of options including switching off its internet, cutting off its banks from global financial systems and shooting down jets that violate allied airspace.Speaking to the Guardian in Prague, Pavel called for “decisive enough, potentially even asymmetric” responses to counter Moscow’s provocative behaviour against the alliance or risk the Kremlin intensifying its actions.A retired general and former chair of the NATO military committee, the 64-year-old’s defence background is rare among European leaders. His years of experience talking to Moscow on the suspended NATO-Russia-council" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="132413" data-entity-type="organization">NATO-Russia council have made him an influential voice on the future of the alliance and the threats it faces.He expressed frustration with “a lack of determination to keep pushing from the United States on Russia,” although he steered clear of direct criticism of Donald Trump despite the US president continuing to cast doubt on the future of Washington’s commitments to the alliance.Pavel has previously told Czech media: “Trump has done more to undermine the credibility of NATO over the last few weeks than Vladimir Putin has managed to do in many years”.He waved away questions about this comment, saying he did not think “any direct criticism of the United States will help at this point”.He focused instead on the need to push NATO members to take a firm line on Russia. After its illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, he said he said Moscow had learned how NATO operated and “developed a behaviour style to almost meet the threshold for Article 5, but always keeping it slightly below that level.”Article 5 of the NATO treaty states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all members.Pavel said Russian military leaders laughed at times at the alliance’s decision-making paralysis. “When I asked them why do they do these provocative actions in the air, close encounters or overflights over battleships in the Black Sea or the Baltic Sea, their answer was ‘because we can’. That’s exactly the kind of behaviour we allowed,” he said.A NATO jet fighter shot down a drone over Estonia this week, and similar incidents have disrupted everyday life in Latvia and Lithuania. In most cases, the drones are believed to be Ukrainian units targeting Russia were jammed and redirected towards NATO territory by electronic warfare. Russia also accuses the Baltic states of working with Ukraine to launch drone attacks from their territories, an allegation they strongly deny.Estonian journalists record images of a Ukrainian drone fragment near the village of Kablakula. Photograph: Valda Kalniņa/EPA“After the annexation of Crimea, we discussed many times the potential continuation of aggression, but my biggest fear was not an open military aggression against a NATO country, but rather a provocation below the Article 5 threshold,” he said.If some European leaders “always prefer a diplomatic solution, even though Russians show no willingness for such,” NATO risks being divided and unable to act, he said.“Russia, unfortunately, does not understand nice language. They mostly understand the language of power, ideally accompanied with action … If violations of NATO airspace continue, we would have to come to a decision to shoot down either an unmanned or manned aircraft.”Pavel said the alliance should also consider “asymmetric” measures “that are not killing people, but are sensitive enough to make Russia understand this is not the way they should go”.“For example, switching off the internet or satellites – you saw what [difference] Starlink made on the battlefield … – or cutting Russian banks from the financial system.”Echoing recent warnings from Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk, Pavel said that “if we do not react to the violations we face today, then Russia would probably step up”.“Within their doctrine, they have the provision ‘escalate to de-escalate’ … I think whatever we will allow, they will try further and further,” he said. The EU talked for years about the Russian shadow fleet, but when it finally acted “suddenly all the fleet was redirected to other regions”, he said.Pavel insisted Ukraine needed “more pressure and determination from the United States. The US negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, should probably be tougher on Russia and tie sanctions relief to a potential peace settlement, he said.He was also critical of Europe’s failure to define its policy towards Russia and what a potential post-war security arrangement might look like. “Instead, we mostly wait for what comes from Washington,” he said. “And even the US might be happier with Europe being more active.“If we do not come up with our own proposals, then we look weak or disoriented.”Pavel believed the best moment to push Russia more would have been last year when it was struggling economically and militarily, but the US-Israeli war on Iran has helped Moscow by increasing its oil revenues. Russia remains in a difficult position, however, and Europe and the US should make “a final push” on sanctions to force it to a negotiating table.“If you want to get rid of sanctions, which they want; if you want to start a debate about European security, which you indicated a number of times, we are ready for it. But the condition is clear – ceasefire and negotiation on peace in Ukraine,” he said.Domestically, Pavel is locked in a bitter constitutional dispute with the populist Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, whom he defeated in the presidential race in 2023, over who should represent the country at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara.The latest clash follows a series of disagreements with the government, including over his refusal to appoint a controversial coalition politician as a minister, which brought thousands of Czechs out on to the streets to voice their support for Pavel in February.People take part in a protest in support of Petr Pavel in Prague in February. Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPABut despite critics accusing him of acting as an opposition figure before a possible re-election campaign in 2028, Pavel insists the disagreement is “a matter of principle” on the president’s role and that he would be prepared to go to the constitutional court if needed.“I believe there is still room for compromise, which I offered to the prime minister,” he said, proposing he attend informal debates at the summit while leaving it to the government to take part in discussions on defence spending.An avid biker and rock music fan, he joked at a public meeting last month that if he were excluded from the meeting, he could go to a ZZ Top concert in Pardubice instead. But he would gladly miss it to attend the summit, he said.