Photo: Michaela Danelová, Czech Radio
The head of the Czech Counterintelligence Service (BIS) Michal Koudelka on Monday highlighted the activities of Russian agents in the country in connection with the war in Ukraine. He said efforts to disseminate Kremlin propaganda in Czechia were now so blatant that anyone who does not see them must be “blind and deaf”.
The public rarely hears about the work of intelligence services in uncovering foreign agents active in the country, but at a conference on disinformation in the Czech lower house of Parliament, the Czech counterintelligence chief reported on a relatively recent case of a Russian agent at work.
“The counterintelligence service ascertained that a Russian agent operating in Czechia paid selected journalists several thousand euros to secure the spread of Russian propaganda in this country. The agent paid for selected articles and financed several foreign trips that resulted in narratives supporting the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation in relation to the war in Ukraine. These were disseminated in the public space, and well-known personalities were abused for this purpose.”
Mr. Koudelka refused to say who the well-known personalities involved were, but he said the facts were clear and convincing.
Among the fake news disseminated by Russian agents in this country was a report that emerged during the Czech presidential campaign in January of 2023, when the Russian state media channel Sputnik released a fake video of the hot candidate Petr Pavel, in which he allegedly claimed that Czechia should get involved in the war in Ukraine.
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Author: Daniela Lazarová