Chief of the General Staff of the Army of the Czech Republic Karel Rehka recently attracted attention not only for his new relationship with STAN MP Michaela Opltová. Řehka is also more active on social networks, he started adding personal posts to his own account on the social network X. After running, after exercising, while mowing the grass… However, he also comments on army matters or the international security situation and exercises.
Minister of Defense Jana Černochová (ODS) does not like this behavior of Řehko. And he does not hide that he has disputes with the Chief of the General Staff. AND invited Řehka to communicate through the two official accounts of the Army of the Czech Republic and the Ministry of Defense.
“I did not ban the Chief of the General Staff from Twitter, on the contrary, our goal and that of my colleague (head of communications Zacharová – editor’s note) is to strengthen and simplify our communication so that it really is effective communication,” said Černochová on CNN’s Partia on Sunday Prima News.
“Our resort operates two Twitter accounts, one is the Army of the Czech Republic and the other is Tweeted by the Defense Department. On these platforms, Mr. Chief can post from morning to night. I would encourage him to do this and ask him to really focus more on publishing on these official platforms as a personality of that army,” continued Černochová.
Černochová meets with Řehka
The minister now believes that the disputes will be overcome. “I think that communication will improve. I will meet with the Chief of the General Staff when he returns from abroad. I will ask him for an explanation of some steps that, in my opinion, are not standard,” pointed out Černochová.
Rehka thus heads for the “carpet”. “I will ask him that we really function as a team in that communication, because I also perceive that, given the current security and defense situation, we cannot behave like this on the outside,” the Prime Minister announced. And she warned against the fact that enemies, including Russian influential groups, enjoy disputes between the minister and the chief.
On twitter on hockey and in uniform
“I reject the fact that someone would label me that I forbade something to the Chief of the General Staff, on the contrary, I don’t want that communication to be broken,” emphasized Prima Černochová, who is said to be not a fan of censorship or disabling accounts, but communication should be in line with how it happens in other allied armies, where they have clear rules and a clear methodology for how soldiers can communicate on their networks.
According to her, Řehka’s comments on civilian Twitter would not pass muster in the American army. “According to the US Department of Defense, employees or soldiers may not display their enlistment, rank, or be photographed in uniform on private accounts without permission. The Dutch, for example, have similar rules,” pointed out Černochová.
In addition to civilian photos, Řehka also puts pictures in uniform on her account. At the same time, black people obviously find his way of communication annoying.
“Society is very divided, if we really don’t want to unnecessarily irritate that society with some kind of militarization of that society, then it’s not right to have someone in uniform looking at us, figuratively speaking, from every canned food can, who will speak to us with some sermon. I think it really should be appropriate for the situation. We shouldn’t scare society, we should definitely improve communication as an army,” appeals Černochová.
Besides that, Černochová made it clear that Řehka is her subordinate, whether he likes it or not. “There is no general staff and ministry here, for God’s sake (…) The general staff is part of the ministry. And everyone should know it, including the Chief of the General Staff,” Černochová pointed out on CNN Prima News.
Hello warriors…
Řehka describes everything possible on her Twitter. “Greetings, warriors,” health Řehka on the social network.
“I’m Karel Řehka and this is a briefing mainly for soldiers, but also for everyone who is interested in the army. What’s new in the military? Last week I went to see the American training team in Náměstí nad Oslavou, where we have a helicopter army. The last two helicopters of the H-1 system have already arrived, so mwe have 8 multipurpose Venoms and 4 combat Vipers. We will receive 8 more helicopters from the Americans as a gift for helping Ukraine, so we will have 10 and 10. It really took us somewhere else. We got rid of Russian technology and have the first purely Western weapon in this category,” Řehka said in a video in mid-June.
Černochová: This is not the first nor the last dispute between the minister and the chief
Černochová appeals to Řehka to support official army profiles instead of videos on his own profile, but admits that the dispute with the chief is not an assumption – it exists.
“I think that the dispute between the minister and the chief of the general staff is neither the first nor the last. It happened in the past, it will happen. There is simply a clear competence law here, where the minister of defense is the head of the department, not the chief of the general staff,” noted Černochová.
According to her, the Minister of Defense is not only there to raise funds for the army, and the competence law is clear. “The General Staff is part of the Ministry,” Černochová repeated, adding that the Minister also manages the Chief of the General Staff. “I am not leading the dispute, I did not give our internal communication to any of the journalists, as the Chief of the General Staff did, and I say unfortunately,” she continued.
About the personal dispute with Řehka, Černochová stated that she does not sign on a professional level.
“I think our relations are good on a professional level. We certainly do not transfer the dispute into some agenda of ours, which we have in common. But I, as Minister of Defense, must insist on principle that the Constitution will apply here, the laws of the Czech Republic will apply here, and the primary task of a soldier is to be a professional, an adviser to a politician, an adviser to the minister in military matters and to prepare for the defense of the country and its interests. The task of a politician is to do everything to ensure enough money, transparency, submit documents, materials to the government and manage the department of the Ministry of Defense. So the management must include Mr. Chief of the General Staff, whether he likes it or not.” Černochová added.
Appreciated: It can not be done like this. If it doesn’t get better, they can’t be there together
The head of the defense committee and ex-minister of defense Lubomír Metnar (for ANO) defended Černochová in the studio. He stated that he criticized the communication not only from the ministry but also from the army.
“Of course, the minister has the highest political responsibility for the department from the formal side,” pointed out Metnar. “I don’t remember historically that there was such a problem. But there are more of those problems. We criticized the statements made by the General Staff as well as a number of others,” said the ex-minister regarding the problem, which according to him results from the lack of communication between the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister.
“That’s what I put on the heart of the minister, that communication must work, that’s the most dangerous thing in the area of security and defense, what could happen to us if it didn’t work,” Metnar stated and continued: “It really doesn’t work that way, and either it will improve in a short time, let’s say, and the communication will be fixed… because then this couple can’t be led there like that. And with that, I still stand behind the minister.”
Metnar hopes the situation will improve. “I firmly believe that a correction will be made and that this communication will improve herebecause in this international security situation it is impossible to communicate like this,” he added.
A problem named Nemesis
Both Metnar and Černochová shook their heads at Řehka’s involvement in the Nemesis project, which he sponsored. It was about the delivery of drones to Ukraine. However, Černochová found out about Řehka’s involvement in the project and the press office for it, from the Czech press office, although they have joint meetings with Řehka on a regular basis.
“That’s goddamn wrong,” Metnar wondered. “I definitely have no problem with any help to Ukraine, for God’s sake, no one can really blame me for not wanting to help Ukraine with drones, but there have to be rules, because there are a number of other companies that are vainly pounding on the Department of Defense and saying: we have drones, we also want to send them to Ukraine, so we want to help. Minister, why doesn’t the chief support us and why does he only support this association? I don’t know,” said Černochová in Partia, adding that she had no information about how the project works.
“The Nemesis project is investigating the inspections, because there are a lot of submissions and various question marks, for example over the use of military premises for the purposes of testing these drones. It’s not that we don’t want to help Ukraine. We want to help Ukraine, but there must be equal rules for everyone, because otherwise, of course, it raises a whole series of questions, why this type and why the type that even has some components from China, and if it is necessary also from a security point of view for our army good,” pointed out the Minister of Defense.
“And if in yesterday’s interview I read that some 60 of these drones are being donated to our army, and again I, as the Minister of Defense, do not know about this, then no one can be angry with me, that I am simply angry with Mr. Chief of the General Staff.” Černochová added.