Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has rebuffed reports that US President Donald Trump was not keen to shake hands with him after a group photo of Nato leaders at the summit in Ankara.

Photos showing Trump passing by Babiš, apparently barely noticing him while Babiš eagerly reached out to shake Trump’s hand, were widely shared on Czech internet, media and social networks, and sparked an array of mocking remarks about Babiš’ Trumpism.

The populist billionaire Babiš, who has repeatedly described himself as Trumpist, countered with his own photo of the situation in which Trump reaches out his hand first.

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Source: Andrej Babis. 

“They hoped that President Trump would yell at us for defence spending even though Fiala’s cabinet put us into this situation. They were really excited that we will be chastised and our country will be shamed,” Babiš wrote on his Facebook social media profile on July 9, suggesting that photos of Trump barely noticing him were shared in concert by his critics.

Earlier, Babiš claimed that Trump would not chastise Czechia for not meeting Nato spending targets because of ideological proximity of the Babiš-led cabinet with Trump’s US administration.

“I am a Trumpist," Babiš told the Financial Times in an interview on May 31. He added that “I have met with him five times and others criticised me for that, but we should have an advantage” as a result of the meetings. Babiš repeatedly suggested that his cabinet is favoured by Trump because it alligns with Trump's US administration on number of issues, including criticism of EU's green policies, anti-immigration stance, or lukewarm attitude towards military support of Ukriane. 

“The summit was a success for the Czech Republic, president Trump was totally cool and no criticism came,” Babiš stated on Facebook on July 9.

Stagnating Czech defence spending has become a contested issue between the Babiš cabinet and the opposition parties which were part of the center-right cabinet of Petr Fiala.

Shortly after forming the new cabinet with the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) and anti-green and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves parties in December, Babiš and his Ano party announced the cabinet was to review the state budget for 2026.

Speaking to journalists ahead of his departure from Ankara, Babiš also said that his country will meet the 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) Nato spending target next year and that he also spoke to Trump during a dinner on July 8.

“I am glad it went the way it did. There was no chastising. President Trump was very nice, as always, and was very satisfied after presentations of all of us. As far as I am concerned the summit went very well,” Babiš was quoted as saying by Czech news outlet Seznam Zprávy (SZ). 

Babiš also said his country will not take part in the €70mn military support package for Ukraine approved by Nato member states at the Ankara summit.

“We appreciate that each state approves this on its own. We won’t participate in this amount,” the billionaire PM was quoted as saying by Czech online news outlet Novinky.cz. 

Babiš made the comments shortly before departing from Ankara and added that “the most important thing is to develop European Patriot,” noting that “Ukraine has those Patriots, but as I heard they are not always effective,” and backing the EU to develop a ballistic programme. 

In the group photo of Nato leaders Babiš stood at the opposite end from Czech President Petr Pavel, prompting comments that the rift between the two leaders had only deepened after the two travelled to Ankara with two separate delegations.

The Czech Constitutional Court recently ordered the Babiš government to include Pavel in the Czech delegation to Ankara. This preliminary ruling followed a lawsuit which former high ranking Nato commander Pavel filed on June 23 in response to the cabinet not including Pavel in the official delegation.

Pavel’s lawsuit against the cabinet was the latest development in ongoing rows between the presidential office and the cabinet led by Babiš’ Ano party.

These included Pavel’s refusal to appoint controversy-stricken Filip Turek of the Motorists as the new minister of environment, and the president’s criticism of the failure to meet the 2% of GDP Nato defence spending target this year. As IntelliNews reported in January, Pavel also accused Macinka of blackmailing him after Macinka tried to pressure Pavel to change his decision not to appoint Turek as minister following a scandal over Turek’s racist, sexist and homophobic online comments.