Zeman's next ambassador to Ukraine

Before the Rusnok government went off into the sunset, Interior Minister Martin Pecina reportedly tried to snare the job of chief of staff at the Castle, but Miloš Zeman turned him down. Zeman was stewing because Pecina had led his SPOZ party to an election disaster. Instead of joining Zeman's inner circle, Pecina went to the somewhat obscure Brno machine-tool company Alta, where his brother already worked. Alta is now a key figure in determining Czech policy toward Russia and Ukraine. It has influence at the Confederation of Industry, Czech Export Bank and EGAP and shares much of the credit for Bohuslav Sobotka's lack of enthusiasm for sanctions. And now Zeman appears to be using a dispute over the repatriation of Volhynian Czechs as a way to oust the Czech ambassador to Ukraine, Ivan Počuch, and to install Antonín Murgaš of Alta into the job. It all makes sense if you know the background.