K bezprostřední reakci československé diplomacie na sovětskou okupaci v srpnu 1968 (Několik poznámek a nepublikovaných dokumentů)

Communist Czechoslovakia’s diplomacy found itself in a completely unfamiliar situation after the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies on the night of 20/21 August 1968, having to defend the state’s sovereignty against its allies, which the leadership of the governing party and a large section of the public had until then perceived as a guarantee of national independence. The failure of Moscow’s official justification for the invasion was in particular due to appearances by Czechoslovak representatives at the UN, first of all interim CSSR ambassador at the UN Security Council, J Mužík, and then J Hájek himself. Although Prague very early on called upon the ministers not to oppose the invasion at the UN, Hájek repeatedly protested against the occupation. This ‘internationalisation’ of the Czechoslovak question along with other factors, including the opposition of a large number of Western communist parties to the invasion, could have helped ensure a compromise outcome to the crisis. Signature of the Czechoslovak-Soviet ‘Moscow Protocol’ of 26 August which anticipated the withdrawal of the Czechoslovak issue from the UN and the strengthening of mutual diplomatic collaboration between Moscow and Prague amongst other items, however, represented the end of active Czechoslovak diplomacy resistance to the occupation.