PRAGUE, 18 October – RIA Novosti. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the Czech Republic has granted temporary asylum to approximately 450,000 refugees from Ukraine since February 24.

“The Czech Republic is the country that hosts the largest number of Ukrainian refugees of all countries in terms of its population – about 450 thousand. Visas obtained by the Ministry of Internal Affairs not only give them the right to live in our country for a year, but also to receive health and social insurance, as well as education and employment. To date, more than 100,000 refugees from Ukraine have already found jobs in companies and businesses.” said Prime Minister Jobs at a press conference at the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday.

According to Fiala, assistance to Ukrainian refugees is provided not only by state bodies of the Czech Republic, but also by many institutions and companies, as well as private individuals. In order for the newly arrived Ukrainians to adapt better and faster to the republic, both the authorities and individual enterprises and foundations have opened special free Czech courses for them.

At the same time, the prime minister announced an increase in illegal immigration, mainly due to Syrian nationals traveling through the Balkans, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to Western European countries, many of whom have relatives and friends.

From the beginning of June to the end of September alone, more than 10 thousand migrants moved to the Czech Republic via Slovakia, while during the last year their number did not exceed 1.3 thousand. In this context, Fiala noted that the Czech Cabinet was forced to impose a temporary border regime on the Slovakian border.

“But this problem, of course, must be resolved at the level of the European Union,” said the Prime Minister.