Czech Leader Invites Putin to Prague in January

The Czech president has invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to a Holocaust forum in January, his spokesman said Tuesday.

The invite from the pro-Russian Czech leader, Milos Zeman, comes as tensions over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis have plunged relations between the West and Russia to a post-Cold War low.

Putin attended a G20 summit in Australia at the weekend but wound up leaving early after facing a hail of criticism over the deadly seven-month conflict between pro-Western government forces and pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine's east.

"Representatives of the winning powers of World War II have been invited" to the January 26-27 forum organised around International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Zeman's spokesman Jiri Ovcacek told AFP, adding that they were still waiting for responses.

Invites were sent to Britain, France, Russia, Ukraine and the U.S., according to Tomas Kraus, secretary of the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities.

Organizers of the Let My People Live forum said on the event's website that they also expect German Chancellor Angela Merkel to attend.

Co-organised by the Czech Republic, the European Parliament and the European Jewish Congress, the forum will be held in the Czech capital Prague and the northern town of Terezin, site of a World War II ghetto and prison.

While the West believes Russia is pulling the strings in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Zeman has repeatedly described it as "a civil war between two groups of Ukrainian citizens".

Prague protesters angry over Zeman's foreign policy targeted him with apples and eggs on Monday, but one egg hit visiting German President Joachim Gauck in the head.