Czech Foreign Ministry establishes special unit to combat Russian propaganda
The Czech Foreign Ministry has established a unit to combat Russian propaganda and other external attempts to affect public opinion in the country, as was stated by the Czech Minister of the Interior, Milan Chovanec, during a conference on strategic communications.
Participants in the event included guests from Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Finland, USA, Slovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, Baltic States, NATO and the EU, representatives of law enforcement bodies, academics, diplomats and non-profit organizations.
The minister noted that the team, which will be comprised of twenty employees, will combat false information being disseminated to the public and will also work with officials to counter disinformation.
The new center will monitor information as it emerges and will respond to it in almost real time by removing it from public access. To achieve it, social networks are planned to be used actively.
In September, the Security Information Service of the Czech Republic (BIS) announced that Russia was conducting an “information war" on the territory of the country. The BIS noted that their data indicated that networks of agents and groups controlled by Moscow were organized in the Czech Republic. Such networks spread propaganda and can be used to destabilize the situation in the country.
According to Czech statistics, at the end of 2015, there were 467,000 foreigners in the Czech Republic. Ukrainians comprise 23% of this number, and Russians 9%. Moreover, in the last 15 years, 55,000 foreigners obtained Czech citizenship.