The Czech government has accused Russia of conducting a propaganda war on its soil and is setting up a unit to counter what it says are networks of pro-Moscow puppet groups.
“We want to get into every smartphone” to counter Russian disinformation, said Milan Chovanec, the Czech interior minister.
The Czech counter-intelligence service said in September that Russia was conducting “an information war” in the Czech Republic, putting in place propaganda agents to destabilise the country.
Speaking at a conference on strategic communications alongside General Petr Pavel, head of Nato’s military committee, Chovanec said a 20-member team in his ministry would act to tackle Russian propaganda in the public domain in real time, including on social media, and train public officials to deal with it.
Kremlin officials were not immediately available for comment.
Dozens of websites in the Czech Republic – home to 30,000 Russians as of a 2011 census – promote Moscow’s stance toward the west.
The Czech authorities on Wednesday announced they had arrested an alleged Russian hacker in Prague who was accused of cyber-attacks on the US.
Chovanec said an opinion poll showed a quarter of people believed what they read on “alternative” news websites.
The Czech Republic has stuck to the common European Union stance towards Russia. But a number of politicians – in particular President Milos Zeman – have echoed Russia’s views on the situation in eastern Ukraine, including its insistence that no Russian troops are there, and spoken out against economic sanctions on Russia.
With Reuters