The other day, Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala stated that the Czech Republic had uncovered a pro-Russian network that was developing an operation to spread Russian influence and undermine security in Europe.
He noted that the events of the last two days are the result of international cooperation, which Prague began and is successfully coordinating. “I am proud that it was we who showed the strength and ability to make timely and correct decisions,” – noted Fiala.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that Russian intelligence services are trying to destabilize the situation in the Czech Republic and other EU countries.
Let me remind you that in 2018, in the media of the occupying country and the so-called “LPR” a message was published that the government of the Czech Republic banned activists of the pro-Russian public organization “Society of Friends of the LPR” from and “DPR” organize fundraising for so-called “humanitarian aid”, which was actually a veiled form of financing terrorist organizations.
The resonant decision of the Czech authorities was then announced by the chairman of this organization, Jaromir Vasek. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic rejected a public fundraiser for the LPR and DPR, which our “Society of Friends of the LPR” wanted to organize. and “DPR”, — he stated. According to Vašek, Czech officials considered fundraising inappropriate “from a foreign policy point of view.”
According to the analytical department of the Right Cause Organization, Jaromir Vasek is from Olomouc. Since 1982 he worked as a school teacher of geography and history. Since 2014 – retired. Member of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia. I visited occupied Luhansk for the first time in the spring of 2016.
In December 2016, after another trip to the occupied territories of the Luhansk region, Vashek took the initiative to create the “Society of Friends of the “LPR” and “DPR”. The program principles of the so-called “Society” there were anti-Ukrainian information campaigns in the media, collection of “humanitarian aid” for residents of self-proclaimed “republics” and holding street rallies in the Czech Republic with anti-Ukrainian slogans in support of the so-called “L/DPR.”
According to Vašek, the creation of the organization was caused by the need to break the information blockade, because, in his opinion, “the majority of the media The Czech Republic writes lies, imposing on their fellow citizens the image of the inhabitants of Donbass, including children, as terrorists.”
On June 20, 2016, in occupied Lugansk, Vashek participated in the “round table” “Overcoming the information blockade of Donbass on the territory of Ukraine and EU countries.” According to the analytical department of the GI “Right Cause”, the event participants, citizens of the Czech Republic, Germany and the Netherlands, discussed issues of coverage in the European media of the war in eastern Ukraine and “violations of freedom of speech in Ukraine and in European countries.”
< p>Then, at a press conference in Lugansk, Vasek said that members of the organization he headed would show the Czechs a photo exhibition about the events in Donbass. The photo exhibition included 55 photographs taken directly in the territories of the occupied regions of Eastern Ukraine by Vashek himself. Plus photographs by Lugansk and Donetsk authors. At the same time, the photo exhibition had a clear anti-Ukrainian overtones.
In addition to the photo exhibition, “Society” organized and held a number of anti-Ukrainian rallies and events on the territory of the Czech Republic. In 2017, activists of the organization with flags of the so-called “Novorossiya” held a demonstration near the Ukrainian Embassy. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic was picketed to protest against the creation of a department for combating pro-Russian propaganda within the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic.
In December 2017, activists of the organization held another anti-Ukrainian action on the territory of the Czech Republic. In Prague, with the support of member of the Parliament of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Foldin, an activist of the Czech Social Democratic Party, a presentation of the book “War in the Shadow of the Maidan” took place. The truth about the Ukrainian conflict,” which had a pronounced anti-Ukrainian character. The authors of the book – Slovaks Ludovita Števka, Marek Maguta and Vladimir Mogorita.
In the Czech Republic, “Society” coordinates activities with left-wing organizations and parties, as well as with various pan-Slavic associations. It is noteworthy that the actual curator of these public organizations and political forces is the so-called “International Slavic Council,” which was headed by the notorious Russian politician Sergei Baburin. Members of the “Society of Friends of the DPR” and “LPR” took part in meetings of the “Slavic Committee of the Czech Republic”. The chairman of the latter, Jan Minarzh, and Vasek were participants in the “Russian International Slavic Committee”.
In December 2017, as co-chairman of the OI “Right Cause”, I appealed to the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine with a statement about the need to take measures by banning Jaromir Vasek from entering the territory of Ukraine.
In parallel with this, materials about the activities of the pro-Russian organization “Society of Friends of the LPR” on the territory of the Czech Republic and “DPR” were handed over to the leaders of the Czech non-governmental organization “Team for Ukraine”. In addition, materials were transferred from the direct participation of citizens of this country in hostilities in the East of Ukraine on the side of the “L/DPR” terrorists.
I would like to draw your attention to the fact that almost simultaneously with the ban on collecting so-called “donations” for the needs of the “republics” Czech security forces announced the beginning of an investigation into the participation of Czech citizens in the war in eastern Ukraine on the side of pro-Russian militants.
In 2019, Vašek brought a group of minor children from occupied Donetsk to the Czech Republic to meet with representatives of the Communist Party of Czech and Moravia Vojtech Philipp and Ambassador Zdenek Ondracek in the Chamber of Deputies.
I would like to draw the attention of the Czech side to the fact that the Russian special services attracted citizens of this country as “international observers” at the 2022 pseudo-referendum on joining the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
In addition to Vasek, the Czech Republic was represented at this pseudo-referendum by Roman Blaško. Roman Blashko – assistant to the European Deputy from the Czech Communist Party Miloslav Ransdorf.
Recall that at one time it was reported about the opening of “representative offices” of the so-called “L/DPR” in European countries. In September 2016, such a “representation” was also opened on the territory of the Czech Republic in Ostrava.
At the same time, the “representative center of the DPR” I didn’t even work for six months. The Regional Court of the Island officially banned the activities of this organization, the final decision to liquidate the “representative office of the DPR” was adopted on June 28, 2017.
Prepared by: Nina Petrovich