Czech president invites newly elected president of Ukraine to Prague

President Miloš Zeman has invited the newly elected president of Ukraine Petr Poroshenko to Prague. In an interview on a Czech TV politics show on Sunday, Mr. Zeman said he would welcome it if Mr. Poroshenko were to hold talks with oligarch Rinat Akhmetov from the Donetsk region in a bid to forestall future conflict and prevent an open civil war. Mr. Akhmetov recently split from pro-Russian separatists who threatened to nationalise his assets. The Czech president said that instead of the repression of the civilian population currently occurring in Ukraine the two men needed to make efforts to find a reasonable solution. He said the further escalation of violence in Ukraine would offer Russia a pretext to intervene militarily.