The fifth column of the Kremlin: the connection between the German AfD and Czech politicians

The AfD, like other political parties, is looking for programmatic and ideological allies in other countries. As we pointed out several years ago, the connection between the tentacles of Russian influence and the AfD extended to the Czech Republic.

She was a key figure in this line of influence former SPD coordinator Radka Hladíková, who, according to her own words, worked as an assistant to former MEP and current German MP for AfD Beatrix von Storch. Hladíková probably took part in the founding of the SPD party as such and was close to the top of the extreme poles of the political scene (KSČM, SPD, Dělnická strana and others), but also the Free Broadcaster/Free Radio event. She was present, for example, in Miloš Zeman’s staff in 2018, as we documented in the report.

In addition to Hladíková, another figure of the Czech pro-Russian scene worked for von Storch, Zdenek Chytra, until recently the leading figure of the Traditional Family association. Hladíková and Chytra worked together with another notorious figure of the disinformation scene Jiří Černohorský in the association “Honor, freedom, respect”. Regular readers of our analyzes and monitoring will not be surprised that the actions of this association, as well as the actions of other pro-Russian associations, revolved around the now infamous Russian Cultural Center in Prague. These and other leading figures of the pro-Russian scene are still spreading pro-Russian narratives favorable to Russia, e.g. about Russian aggression against Ukraine.

But we don’t have to go to the corridors to associate Czech politicians with the AfD, just look at, for example official website of Tomi Okamura’s parliamentary SPD. In the past, Okamura and party leaders have met, for example, Petr Bystroně, who is at the center of the current scandal. There is a lively camaraderie between the parties, which is not surprising given the programmatic and rhetorical proximity.

But the SPD is not the only party that is establishing contacts with the AfD. Another such is the non-parliamentary Tricolor. The already mentioned Bystroň spoke, for example, at their congress this year, he was also a guest on the party’s YT channel.

None of the above proves that Czech politicians or figures of the domestic pro-Russian scene would ever accept money from Russia, as has just happened with the German AfD. However, it is evident that there are strong ties between these politicians and parties, at least on the ideological level and on the level of personal relationships. And we consider it important to point out these facts, which may represent a potential risk for the security of the Czech Republic.

The text is based on information obtained by the civic initiative Czech Elves.