Corruption and Russian influence: Czechs in the crisis!

Corruption and Russian influence: Czechs in the crisis!

In the Czech Republic, a severe corruption scandal overshadows the political landscape. The police have received investigations into abuse of office, money laundering and drug trafficking, which led to the resignation of the Minister of Justice. The focus of the investigation was a criminal criminal who was said to have paid alleged bribes of the Ministry of Justice of one billion crowns (around 41 million euros) in Bitcoin. The opposition parties are now calling for the resignation of the entire government.

This affair is part of an extensive influence surgery that deals with the "voice-of-European" campaign. This ranged to pro-Russian politicians in various European countries. Affected politicians include Petr Bystron and Maximilian Krah from the AfD as well as Filip Dewinter and Filip Brusselmans from Vlaams. The allegations include that these politicians accepted money from Russia after giving interviews with "Voice of Europe". The Czech government played a key role in this matter and has previously offered several press conferences for the allegations, but without providing evidence.

political effects of the affair

The research of the OCCRP network and the German media led to a loss of trust in the AfD, which even suffered a decline in two percentage points in polls. Despite intensive investigations, the alleged Russian influence could not be proven. The processing of the machinations is currently being promoted in both the USA and the Czech Republic.

Petr Stepanek, a prominent politician, has refuted the claims about bribes. At the same time, journalist Angelika Bazalová has provided evidence of an orchestrated campaign, which also included secret service reports. It is noteworthy that despite the serious allegations against the largest opposition party in Germany, no public prosecutor's investigations have been initiated.

sanctions against "Voice of Europe"

As part of the reaction to these developments, the Czech government has put the operators of the controversial website "Voice of Europe" onto the national sanction list. According to the Foreign Ministry in Prague, the site acts against territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine and is viewed as an instrument of Russian influence operation. The Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that Czech politicians or citizens were not involved in the matter and emphasized the need to protect the democratic processes from the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in June

In addition, a total of 48,500 euros and $ 36,000 appeared in Poland in connection with “Voice of Europe”. Behind the platform is the oligarch Wiktor Medwedtschuk, which is charged in Ukraine for treason and was also placed on the sanction list. According to reports, several European politicians who worked with “Voice of Europe” have received money to finance their election campaigns for the upcoming European Parliamentary elections.

Maximilian Krah from the AfD, which gave two interviews with "Voice of Europe", rejected any allegations that not receiving any money from the platform, plans to request future financial transactions. The Czech Security Information Service (bis) has clearly identified the serious effects of the pro -Russian network on the security of the Czech Republic and the EU.

The events in the Czech Republic make a lightly on the geopolitical tensions in Europe and show how deep Russian influences can immerse themselves in politics, while the processing of these machinations is still being observed.

For more information about the developments in the Czech Republic, the reports of our Central Europe , ZDF and The time consult.