1. Petr Pavel served in the Czechoslovak People's Army and joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in 1985.
67 Facts About Petr Pavel
1. 2.
Petr Pavel rose through the ranks of the military to become the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces from 2012 to 2015.
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Petr Pavel was selected as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee between 2015 and 2018, becoming the first military officer from the former Eastern Bloc to hold the post.
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Petr Pavel retired from the military after 44 years and was discharged with honors after his term expired.
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In 2021, Petr Pavel announced his presidential bid in the 2023 election.
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Petr Pavel ran on a platform of closer cooperation with NATO allies, support for Ukraine and greater involvement in the European Union.
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Petr Pavel embraced a hawkish stance on Russia and China.
8.
Petr Pavel won the first round of the election with 35 percent and went on to win the runoff against former Prime Minister Andrej Babis with 58 percent of the vote, to become the fourth president of the Czech Republic and 12th president since the Czechoslovak declaration of independence in 1918.
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Petr Pavel was inaugurated on 9 March 2023, succeeding Milos Zeman.
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Petr Pavel is the second president with a military background and the first without political experience.
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Petr Pavel was born on 1 November 1961 in Plana, then part of Czechoslovakia.
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Petr Pavel's father was an intelligence officer who served at the Western Military District command in Tabor from 1973 to 1989.
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Petr Pavel continued his studies at the Military University of the Ground Forces in Vyskov, graduating in 1983 and subsequently joining the Czechoslovak Army as a paratrooper, serving as a platoon leader.
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In 1985, after a two-year mandatory waiting period, Petr Pavel joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, remaining a member until the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989.
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Petr Pavel later cooperated with dissidents such as Lubos Dobrovsky and Radovan Prochazka and referred to his membership in the Communist Party as a mistake, which he atoned for by serving the democratic cause.
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In 1988, Petr Pavel joined the military intelligence service and continued his studies at the Military Academy in Brno from 1988 to 1991.
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Petr Pavel served in the 1st Czechoslovak Battalion of the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia.
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Petr Pavel went to the base with 29 soldiers and two OT-64 SKOT armoured personnel carriers.
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Petr Pavel was recognized and decorated by both the Czech Republic and France for his conduct of the rescue.
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Petr Pavel represented the Czech Republic in several military diplomatic positions in Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United States.
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From 1993 to 1994, Petr Pavel was the deputy military attache of the Czech Republic in Belgium.
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Petr Pavel became major general in 2010 and lieutenant general in 2012.
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Petr Pavel served as Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Czech Republic from July 2011 to June 2012.
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Already a general of the army, Petr Pavel was nominated by the Cabinet of Bohuslav Sobotka as Chair of the NATO Military Committee in July 2014, and elected to this position in Vilnius in September 2014, beating candidates from Italy and Greece.
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Petr Pavel was the first chair of the organisation from a former Warsaw Pact member.
26.
Petr Pavel implemented the decisions taken at the 2014 Wales summit, including the Readiness Action Plan.
27.
Petr Pavel reestablished dialogue with Russia, disrupted after the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, even though he considered Russia a major threat.
28.
Petr Pavel was awarded the Commander of the Legion of Merit for his work in the Military Committee.
29.
On 6 April 2020, Petr Pavel launched the 'Spolu silnejsi' initiative, with the aim of helping people linked with the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, especially crowdfunding financial assistance for volunteers helping in hospitals and creating medical tools.
30.
Petr Pavel started travelling around Czech regions and gathering information about the fight against the epidemic from experts, authorities and institutions.
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Petr Pavel was reported to be the most discussed candidate at the meeting.
32.
On 29 June 2022, Petr Pavel announced his intention to run in the 2023 Czech presidential election.
33.
Petr Pavel said he wanted to win the election so that the Czech Republic would not have to feel embarrassed by its president.
34.
Petr Pavel launched his official campaign on 6 September 2022, saying he wanted to "return order and peace to the Czech Republic", running on a pro-Western, pro-European, and anti-populist platform, the views he advocated for throughout his senior military management career.
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Petr Pavel finished narrowly ahead of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis, with whom he advanced to the second round.
36.
Petr Pavel was planning to make his first foreign trips to Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine to reassure the Czech Republic's international commitments and express support for Ukraine against the 2022 Russian invasion.
37.
Petr Pavel had a telephone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in the first days after the election to reaffirm the closer diplomatic relations between the Czech Republic and Taiwan, triggering criticism from China.
38.
Petr Pavel spoke with several leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen becoming the first elected European head of state to talk to the Taiwanese president on the phone in recent history.
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Petr Pavel then visited Karlovy Vary Region and Usti nad Labem Region.
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Petr Pavel appointed three judges to the Constitutional Court, and addressed sessions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
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Petr Pavel visited all neighboring countries by June 2023.
42.
Petr Pavel proposed deepening co-operation between the Czech Republic and Germany, and made steps to improve relations between the Czech Republic and the Sudetendeutsche Landsmannschaft.
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Petr Pavel's visit to Bavaria for the Bavarian-Czech Friendship Weeks in May 2023 on a motorcycle attracted considerable attention.
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Petr Pavel has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, rallying for a continued united Western stance.
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In June 2023, in an interview for Radio Free Europe, Petr Pavel spoke in favor of enhanced surveillance of all Russian citizens living in the West.
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Petr Pavel's words were met with criticism from the Russian opposition and media.
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Petr Pavel later clarified that he was talking about necessary security measures to prevent attacks like the 2014 Vrbetice ammunition warehouses explosions and the spread of Russian propaganda, not surveillance on an individual level, and that he did not approve of the treatment of Japanese Americans.
48.
In 2023, Petr Pavel delivered speeches at, among others, the 4th Council of Europe Summit, the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, the Climate Ambition Summit, the UN Security Council and the European Parliament, calling for a fight against populism, for explaining to citizens the principles on which Europe stands, for resisting war fatigue and making no concessions to Russia.
49.
On 15 January 2024, Petr Pavel visited Israel to express solidarity with the country during the Gaza war.
50.
Petr Pavel then visited Qatar, where he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
51.
Petr Pavel holds Atlanticist and pro-Western views and advocates active Czech membership in the European Union and NATO.
52.
In 1987, in his biography, Petr Pavel expressed understanding for the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops.
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Petr Pavel is said to have taken this view at the age of six from his father, Josef Pavel, who was at the time an officer in the Czechoslovak Army and a member of military intelligence.
54.
Petr Pavel later apologized for the stance expressed in his biography and condemned the invasion.
55.
Petr Pavel supported Ukraine during the 2022 Russian invasion, which he described as a "war against the system of international relations", calling for military and humanitarian aid.
56.
Petr Pavel said that the West should have acted more forcefully in response to the invasion.
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Petr Pavel argued that following the annexation of Crimea by Russia and the control of parts of the Donbas by Russian-backed separatists, the West should have established protected corridors for civilians enforced by the OSCE.
58.
In 2023, Petr Pavel reiterated his support for Ukraine joining the NATO alliance after the end of the war.
59.
In May 2023, Petr Pavel advocated for the donation of L-159 fighter jets to Ukraine.
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Petr Pavel's position was clear that the west should not limit Ukraine's ability to defend itself, technologically or geographically.
61.
Petr Pavel said that the Czech ammunition coalition had supplied 500,000 shells to that date.
62.
Petr Pavel said that during his tenure as Chair of the NATO Military Committee he saw many Chiefs of General Staff who were unable to call problems by their right name due to political correctness.
63.
Petr Pavel said he voted for the centre-right Spolu alliance in the 2021 Czech legislative election.
64.
Petr Pavel discussed political support from Spolu during the early stages of his presidential bid, eventually stating that he did not want to be its nominee, but would welcome its endorsement.
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Petr Pavel said he had voted for Karel Schwarzenberg in both rounds of the 2013 Czech presidential election.
66.
Petr Pavel has two sons by his first wife, Hana; they later divorced.
67.
Petr Pavel is married to his second wife, Eva Pavlova, who holds the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Czech Army.