Czech state firm trained pilots for Burkina Faso’s pro-Kremlin junta

The state-owned company LOM Praha, wholly owned by the Czech Ministry of Defence, trained pilots and aircraft technicians for the military junta of Burkina Faso, an ally of Moscow. A journalistic investigation found that the training in 2024 was arranged by the firm Defcon, owned by businessman Petr Markvart, a former agent of Czechoslovakia’s state security service.

How the training worked

Junta leader Ibrahim Traoré calls Vladimir Putin his “elder brother,” and Russia uses the country as a base for influence operations in Africa. In the first quarter of 2024, 25 students from Burkina Faso completed a nine-week aircraft technician course at LOM Praha’s Flight Training Centre in Pardubice, and in the autumn six pilots flew 15 hours each on Z-142C AF aircraft.

Company spokesman Pavel Lang confirmed that the centre provided “professional training and logistics.” Markvart ignored the journalists’ questions, but has said before: “I’m doing my Africa.”

Who is responsible for the deal

The Ministry of Defence does not feel responsible: it says this is commercial activity by a state-owned company, and that such deals are licensed by the Licensing Administration of the Ministry of Industry. The Ministry of Industry and Trade itself declined to comment on the issuing of the licence, citing security and the country’s foreign policy interests.

Former defence minister Jana Černochová, who headed the ministry in 2024, believes the case should be explained by those who concluded and approved the deal. LOM sees no problem: the Czech Republic has diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso, and there is no trade embargo against the country.

The university and the undisclosed contracts

The theoretical part of the course, from May 2023 to April 2024, was taught by the Faculty of Transport Engineering of the University of Pardubice: lectures on mathematics, electrical engineering, aerodynamics and aircraft design. The then dean, Libor Švadlenka, calls this knowledge standard and safe. The current rector, Libor Čapek, distances himself from the contract and says he did not personally recommend the course.

Neither LOM nor the university discloses the terms of the contracts, although they are not in the public register. Meanwhile, in 2019 the university itself published a similar contract with Defcon worth 9.8 million crowns: back then, 24 military technicians from Burkina Faso received certificates, before the coup.

A new contract with an army institute

In July, the Institute of Aviation Medicine in Prague signed an open-ended framework agreement with Defcon, committing to train “military aviation personnel” to NATO standards. The contract does not say who or from which country, and it has no mechanism for vetting the trainees. The institute, the Ministry of Defence and Minister Jaromír Zůna did not answer questions.

Earlier, Chief of the General Staff Miroslav Hlaváč withdrew army patronage from a conference co-organised by Markvart, saying his activities run counter to the security interests of the Czech Republic. According to its accounts, Defcon’s turnover last year was 120 million crowns.

Around Prague, based on reporting by seznamzpravy.cz