Ukrainian analysts find pro-Russian propaganda on a third of Czech websites

Ukrainian data journalists from the analytical portal Texty.org.ua examined 21 Czech websites from last year through February of this year, analyzing nearly 168,000 publications, their sources, and how texts are copied between outlets.

On two-thirds of the sites studied, researchers found pro-Russian manipulative and propagandistic claims. Combined, these sites receive ten million visits a month. Similar links have already been documented in previous Czech studies.

A marathon, not a sprint

"The Kremlin doesn't behave like a sprinter, but like a marathon runner. It's not counting on an instant effect, but is betting on the repeated reinforcement of key messages," the study's authors note. In their view, Russian information operations are aimed, over the long term, at undermining trust in the media and democratic institutions, deepening social divisions, and weakening support for Ukraine, which Moscow has been attacking since 2022.

According to the experts, people who get their news from disinformation outlets end up living in a kind of parallel reality: they think differently from the majority and avoid mainstream, serious media.

Content without verification

"A link to a Russian source on its own doesn't mean the information is false or that the site is controlled by Moscow. The risk mainly arises when a site picks up propagandistic or manipulative material without checking it or providing context, and the text then starts spreading as verified domestic news," the analysis's authors stress.

The researchers paid the most attention to the site Czech Free Press: nearly 40% of roughly three thousand tracked links led to Russian or pro-Russian sources, with around a thousand pointing to the "Rusvesna" server, which has long published material supporting the Russian side of the war against Ukraine. The site's editor-in-chief is Miroslav Suja, deputy chairman of the Slovak movement "Republika," which political scientists describe as far-right, Eurosceptic, and populist. The site has previously published texts explicitly labeled "reprinted from Russkaya Vesna."

Well-known faces instead of anonymous sites

"The disinformation scene has shifted from anonymous, obscure websites to well-known personalities who use manipulative content to build their own brand and fan base. At the same time, they often tie their online activity to ways of monetizing it," noted Kristína Šefčíková of the Prague Security Studies Institute, an organization focused on security, foreign policy, and the protection of democratic institutions.

The analysis's authors also drew attention to the portal InfoKurýr: nearly 4,700 problematic links made up 16.2% of the total and pointed to 159 different domains — most often RT, InfoBRICS, and Anti-Spiegel, as well as the Russian state agency TASS.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz