The Visegrad Group in the Contemporary Security Policy of the Czech Republic

Abstract

The Visegrad Group, founded in 1991 and uniting four Central European countries – Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – has gone through several periods of increased and decreased activity of its members in cooperation on security issues over more than three decades of its existence. After 2022, calls to question the very expediency of cooperation in the Visegrad format began to be heard more and more often in the Czech establishment and among experts. This article, for the first time in Russian historical science, analyzes new strategic documents of the Government of the Czech Republic and transcripts of meetings of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic on security, as well as joint statements of the Visegrad Four in order to determine the significance of interaction with the three neighboring countries in the context of security policy for the Czech Republic. Particular attention is paid to the consideration of the conceptual role of the Czech Republic in the NATO and EU security systems, including the degree of the Czech Republic's involvement in global and regional security and defense projects in Europe. A structural analysis of the links within the Visegrad Group has made it possible to identify two main areas in the security sphere around which the Czech Republic's interaction with its partners in the association is currently concentrated. Firstly, this is cooperation on defense issues, including joint exercises and the formation of common combat units; secondly, this is a coordinated policy regarding the fight against illegal migration in the region.

Received: 17.12.2024.
Revised: 03.02.2025.
Accepted: 18.03.2025.

Citation
Ankhimiuk M. Yu. The Visegrad Group in the Contemporary Security Policy of the Czech Republic // Slavic Almanac. 2025. No 1–2. P. 161–180. (in Russian). DOI: 10.31168/2073-5731.2025.1-2.07