Czech Republic Detains Russian Agent Who Financed Propaganda

The Czech Information Security Service (BIS) has identified one of the Russian agents who had been living in the Czech Republic for years and organising campaigns to spread Russian propaganda about the war in Ukraine.

This was reported by iRozhlas, citing BIS Director Michal Kudelka.

"In particular, this agent, on the orders of one of the highest authorities of the Russian government, ensured the dissemination of narratives supporting the foreign policy interests of the Russian Federation in connection with the war in Ukraine in the public space. Public figures were used for this purpose," Kudelka said.

According to an official from the Security Information Service of the Czech Republic, the Russian agent coordinated his actions with Russian special services and "paid thousands of euros" to individual journalists who, in turn, promoted Russian narratives. The agent also funded foreign trips for journalists who produced propaganda stories.

In addition, Kudelka reported that Czech special services detected the activation of Russian propaganda agents during the presidential campaign in the Czech Republic in January of this year. At that time, Russian Telegram channels were spreading fake videos in which the then-presidential candidate, Petr Pavel, claimed that the Czech Republic should enter the war in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that Russian agents significantly intensified their activities with the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Hundreds of secret agents of the Russian Federation were exposed on the territory of European countries. Some of them were expelled from countries on charges of illegal activities.

Earlier, a group of people accused of working for Russian special services were detained in the UK. In particular, during the investigation, the suspects were found to be in possession of passports and identity documents of citizens of the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, France, Italy, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece and the Czech Republic. It is worth noting that today they will have to appear before the Westminster Magistrates' Court. 

And, in March 2023, the Polish Internal Security Agency (ABW) exposed a spy network working for Moscow that was supposed to train saboteurs to work in the country. At that time, nine people were detained who had been working on behalf of the Russian special services. By August, the number of arrested people had increased to 16. Journalists of Gazeta Polska emphasise that this is the largest Russian spy network ever exposed in Poland.