Ethnic Czechs Seek to Escape Ukraine for Ancestral Home
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Czech authorities have received hundreds of requests from ethnic Czechs living in Ukraine to move back to their ancestral homeland so they can escape the conflict with pro-Russian rebels in their current country.
About 270 Ukrainians with Czech roots from across Ukraine, including areas near war-torn Donetsk and Simferopol, the Crimean capital annexed by Russia in March, want to resettle in the Czech Republic, said Vera Dousova, head of the Prague-based Seven Rays association, which monitors ethnic Czechs abroad. Their reasons include frustration with Ukraine’s contracting economy, rising crime rates and fear of being drafted to fight separatists in Ukraine’s eastern regions, she said.