The Czech secret service closed a Russian propaganda portal. AfD politicians are also said to have been involved.
Party spokespersons Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla with a not particularly subtle message towards the Kremlin Photo: Alex Halada/imago
PRAGUE afp/dpa/taz | The Czech secret service has discovered a propaganda network financed by Moscow. The group used the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to disseminate information aimed at dissuading the European Union from providing aid to Ukraine in the fight against the Russian military, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Wednesday.
According to Fiala, the Czech Security Information Service (BIS) discovered that the pro-Russian network was carrying out activities that have “serious implications for the security of the Czech Republic and the EU.”
The group had been agitating on EU territory “against the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” Fiala told reporters. The group's activities also reached the European Parliament, Fiala said, without giving further details. The Czech government has included the operators of the “Voice of Europe” website on its national sanctions list against Russia, the Foreign Ministry in Prague announced on Wednesday.
The website is part of a Russian influence operation aimed at challenging the territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine. Behind this is, among others, the oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, accused of high treason in Ukraine but who arrived in Russia in September 2022 as part of a prisoner exchange. According to the ministry, Medvedchuk, considered a confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was also personally included on the sanctions list.
Connections with European politics
The Czech newspaper Denik N. reported that the news site had published statements by politicians calling on the EU to end its aid to Ukraine. Some European politicians who worked with the news site were paid with Russian money, which in some cases also covered their campaign expenses for June's European elections. Again Mirror As reported, the money was handed over in cash at in-person meetings in Prague or transferred via cryptocurrency.
The payments affected politicians from Germany, Belgium, France, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland, the newspaper writes, citing a source from the Czech Foreign Ministry. The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) also participated.
According to the Mirror In “The Voice of Europe” you can find, among other things, interviews with the AfD's top candidate for the European elections, Maximilian Krah, and with the AfD candidate, Petr Bystron, who occupies second place on the list. Krah explained out loud. Mirror, gave two interviews to “The Voice of Europe”, one of them in Prague. “Of course, he received no money for it, neither for me nor for the party.” Bystron was also interviewed by the Russian portal in Prague.
The two AfD politicians have been considered Putin's spokespersons for years: Bystron traveled to Russia's ally Belarus around 2023 despite the war of aggression against Ukraine. Krah also likes to be a guest in authoritarian regimes and has often attracted attention with pro-Russian propaganda. He also has a close relationship with the long-standing oligarch Medvedchuk. Mirror reported. Photos of the tightness have been circulating on social networks for a long time Putin loyalists, along with Krah and Bystron. It is also practical for the Kremlin: Krah and Bystron occupy the first two places on the list of candidates for the European elections.