European politicians who assist Russia must be held accountable. Otherwise, Moscow will not stop.

^{Source – reflex.cz}

Taking advantage of the lack of an adequate response to Russia’s redrawing of the borders of neighboring sovereign states to suit its own interests, the aggressor state launched a campaign to legitimize its numerous violations of international law. Since 2014, Russia has sought to create the illusion of legality for its actions in Ukraine: the occupation of Crimea, the creation of “new republics” later incorporated into the Russian Federation, and ultimately the full-scale invasion. Russia regularly invited European politicians to elections, building ties with those unafraid of Russia’s “political toxicity.” Since the start of the full-scale war, nothing has changed: Russia has continued to involve international observers, including in newly occupied territories, during the (pseudo) referendums of 2022 in the temporarily occupied parts of Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions on their accession to the Russian Federation, as well as during the first parliamentary elections held there in 2023 under Russian control.

The Czech Republic was represented in this disgraceful act of supporting and legitimizing the 2022 occupation “referendums” by two Czech communists, Roman Blaško and Jaromír Vašek. Roman Blaško, a Czech journalist and communist who served as an assistant to Czech Communist MEP Miloslav Ransdorf, attempted to enter mainstream politics in the Czech Republic and even ran for the European Parliament in 2019. Jaromír Vašek was also affiliated with the Communist Party of the Czech Republic and worked as a journalist for the party newspaper “Halo noviny,” where he published materials supporting the occupation of Ukrainian territories.

Both individuals openly support Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. They have repeatedly violated Ukrainian law by visiting occupied territories. They became conduits of Russian propaganda, spreading narratives about “Nazis and fascists” in Ukraine; claims that the United States and the United Kingdom started the war in Ukraine; that the U.S. is colonizing the Czech Republic; that NATO wants to drag the Czech Republic into a war against Russia, which Moscow will supposedly win; that Petr Pavel is a U.S. puppet; about biological laboratories producing bacteriological weapons in Ukraine; and about Europeans opposing sanctions. This disinformation is primarily aimed at strengthening Russian propaganda both in Russia and in the Czech Republic and poses a threat to democracy itself.

Jaromír Vašek went even further in his propaganda. In addition to participating in anti-Ukrainian rallies in Prague against providing weapons to Ukraine for self-defense, he used Ukrainian minors to promote Russian propaganda. Moreover, in 2019 he brought a group of underage children from occupied Donetsk to the Czech Republic to meet representatives of the Communist Party, Vojtěch Filip and MP Zdeněk Ondráček, in the Chamber of Deputies.

Vašek’s disinformation activities in favor of Russia in the Czech Republic began long before the full-scale invasion. The “Society of Friends of the LPR and DPR,” led by Vašek, organized and carried out a series of anti-Ukrainian events in the Czech Republic. In 2016, activists of the organization held a demonstration with so-called “Novorossiya” flags in front of the Ukrainian embassy. Another protest was held in front of the Czech Ministry of the Interior against the creation of a unit within the ministry to counter pro-Russian propaganda. It is also worth noting that Jaromír Vašek is the editor-in-chief of the Czech “publication” donbas.cz, which publishes Russian propaganda materials for a Czech audience.

The Prague High Prosecutor’s Office attempted to assess possible criminal liability, but none of the police departments initiated proceedings against the Czech observers of Russian pseudo-referendums. Moreover, detectives from the National Center for Combating Organized Crime were also involved in the investigation, but it ultimately led to no real accountability or consequences.

Tolerance of such actors threatens the stability and sustainable development of democratic societies in Europe. An example is the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which is steadily increasing its electoral rating, overtaking most parties in the Bundestag, and announcing plans to expand its presence in the European Parliament. The main threat lies in AfD’s far-right and Eurosceptic views, combined with openly pro-Russian rhetoric and ties between party figures and Russian authorities, including the FSB. Representatives of the party have also visited temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and acted as observers, like Roman Blaško and Jaromír Vašek, during previous “elections” in occupied parts of Ukraine. Long-term disregard of AfD’s activities and its ties to the Kremlin now poses a serious threat not only to German democracy—as reported by Germany’s domestic intelligence service—but to the entire European community. In the Czech Republic, a similar influence vector is the SPD party, whose leader Tomio Okamura (also dubbed the EU’s most influential disinformation figure) has announced plans to form the largest faction in the European Parliament by aligning with AfD and their French counterparts, the far-right National Front. Its leader, Marine Le Pen, has publicly supported Putin’s policies since 2014, actively recognizing Crimea as Russian and advocating for lifting sanctions against Russia.

So-called “foreign observers” have played a special role in the disgraceful “legitimization” of pseudo-referendums over nearly ten years of war in Ukraine. The Kremlin’s myth of the legality of these acts of “popular will” rests precisely on such “international observers,” promoted by Russian propaganda. Responsibility for the occupation of Ukrainian territories therefore lies with them just as much as with the Russian authorities. Every so-called “friend of Putin” who visited occupied territories in violation of Ukrainian law helped annex Ukrainian lands and became an accomplice to Russian aggression.

However, none of the politicians or public figures who acted as “foreign observers”—whether Czech, German, or others worldwide—have faced fair punishment for their criminal activities and assistance in the occupation of Ukraine. They continue to spread Russian propaganda and destabilize the internal political situations of states in the Kremlin’s interests. As a result, destabilization is now occurring not only in Ukraine but also across European Union countries. The 12th sanctions package, which envisages punishment for organizers of elections in occupied territories, should also include sanctions against so-called foreign observers. It is in the unconditional interest of every country to ensure fair punishment for those who knowingly became accomplices to Russia in its war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, applying international law on par with those who organized these elections and forced Ukrainian citizens to participate in them. Otherwise, other territories—in the next country—may also be occupied by Russia.

^{Anastasiia Sihnaievska, USCC Representative in the Czech Republic}