Washington - A day before attending a summit in New York about climate change the Czech president Václav Klaus spoke to The Washington Times, a conservative American broadsheet newspaper.
In the interview Klaus said that he did not find it surprising that President Obama's administration decided not to deploy the missile defense system in Central Europe.
"I fully accept this decision," Vaclav Klaus told The Washington Times reporters.
"I do not think it is necessary to demonize it," Mr. Klaus said of the U.S. decision. "It was expected as something that could happen, and we need to put it in perspective," he said, adding that he had never been convinced of the strategic value of the system.
Read more: The US drops plans to base a missile defence system
Being marked as a fierce opponent of communism by the newspaper, the Czech President also voiced concern over the "overregulated Europe".
He believes that twenty years after the collapse of communism the Czech Republic has much less to fear from Russia than from all the EU regulations.
"We now live in a much more regulated society than we were 20 years ago, just before the fall of communism," he said, calling the current situation in Europe "frustrating."
"For me, the threat of the Soviet Union in the past was enormous because it influenced my life every day." Now, he said, "the threat coming from that part of the world is much, much smaller."
Prior to the conference, Václav Klaus reiterated that global warming was "humbug" and "nonsense."
Misunderstood
As soon as the interview was published, Václav Klaus protested against the word "overregulated" in a statement sent to Czech media as well as to The Washington Times.
His spokesperson Radim Ochvat explained in an interview for Czech public television that Václav Klaus meant "managed". He said Mr. President was misunderstood by the newspapers reporters.
Read more: Czech president addresses MEPs - some boo, some applaud
Following Klaus's objections, The Washington Times changed the sentence:
"Mr. Klaus voiced concern about the impact of growing government intervention in EU economies since the global recession struck last year."
