Petr Macinka

Ruth Frankova attended the ceremony at Czernin Palace in Prague.

Foreign Minister Petr Macinka presented the awards on Thursday in the Great Hall of the Foreign Ministry's headquarters.

Among the laureates were Geraldine Anna Manolas, chair of the Memorial Association of Free Czechoslovak Veterans, and granddaughter of Czechoslovak wartime officer Bohuslav Schulz.

She says her grandparents inspired her work, preserving the veterans' legacy.

And it's a great honor for me to have an opportunity to play this music all over the world.

The only organization honored was the Krause Gallery near Zurich, which has supported artists in exile since its founding in 1973.

For Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, presenting the awards for the first time was an opportunity to hear the stories of people who have helped promote Czechia abroad.

Well, I think this is kind of agenda in my office that's very positive in comparing with some other things the Minister of Foreign Affairs has to do, because it is about reading stories of people who did something great for the Czech Republic abroad.

According to Mr Pavel, one of Russia's current aims is to trigger a new wave of refugees fleeing Ukraine for Europe.

Foreign Minister Petra Macinka on Thursday presented the Grazias Agit Awards, honoring individuals and organizations for promoting the Czech Republic abroad.

The 13 laureates include Czech-born Canadian scientist Václav Smil, an internationally recognized expert on energy technology and the environment, and Tomáš Cihlář, a Czech virologist and senior executive at the U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, who contributed to the development of HIV drugs.

The award also went to pianist Ivo Kahanec, director of the Prague Conservatory and a BBC Music Magazine Award winner, British historian Tom Dolezal, who documents the wartime service of Czechoslovak airmen in the Royal Air Force, and Geraldine Anna Manois, head of the British Memorial Association for Free Czechoslovak Veterans.

The Czech Republic will not support a Finnish proposal to tighten visa requirements for Russian citizens across the European Union.

Foreign Minister Petr Macinka told Seznam Spravi that the Czech Republic already applies stricter rules nationally and would maintain its own approach, adding that most EU member states had not backed the Finnish initiative anyway.

The decision has sparked severe criticism from the Czech opposition parties.

Several EU countries, including Finland, have already tightened their visa policies, but no such restrictions apply across the bloc as a whole.

When she was excluded for a second time in July, the ministry said Dinkén would instead be invited to a separate event for what it called alternative media and conspiracy blogs.

The foreign ministry later confirmed that denying her accreditation had been a political decision taken by Petr Macinka.

The Czech journalist syndicate condemned the exclusion, arguing that public institutions should provide journalists with equal access to information.

The other major concern raised by the editors is increasingly aggressive language directed at journalists.