Although the Russian House in Prague is supposed to educate and spread Russian culture, it is an instrument of Kremlin propaganda during the war in Ukraine. Czech counterintelligence BIS has long linked him to the activities of Russian agents, experts advise the government to shut him down. The same centers have already been closed by European allies, Germany and Finland. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not want to comment, it will soon present a proposal to revise relations with Russia.
Just a few meters away, Sparta football fans are cheering on their team on their way to the championship. Not far from the Letenská stadium, there is a house in Na Zátorce Street, which has served as the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Prague for half a century. There is a screening room, a music lounge, a library and a gallery for holding exhibitions. Like similar centers in other countries, it is supposed to promote Russian culture, but it spreads Kremlin propaganda and authors of disinformation media meet there.
“For a long time, it belongs to the institutions that the Security Information Service connects with the activities of the Russian intelligence services,” confirmed Aktuálně.cz, the spokesman of the Czech counterintelligence BIS, Ladislav Šticha. In addition, the center’s founder, the Russian state agency Rossotrudnichestvo, is on the list of institutions against which the European Union imposed sanctions after last year’s attack by Russian troops on Ukraine. The house operates without restrictions, even as the invasion continues and the Kremlin threatens nuclear weapons.
“We should adopt a more radical stance,” said Pavel Havlíček, an expert on Russian influence operations from the Association for International Affairs. “I think today we are not interested in listening to how great the Russian world is and giving the Kremlin a free hand to spread its lies,” he said.
The editors asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Lipavský (Pirates) about whether the government plans to close the center. He did not want to comment, but his spokesman Daniel Drake confirmed that the office knows about the activities of the Russian House and is following the European sanctions list. “We designed several subjects for it ourselves,” he recalled. The editors also contacted the Russian House, but it did not respond to a request for a statement on the current situation.
In the coming weeks, Lipavský plans to submit to the government a proposal for a review of relations with Russia. He already tried to do it once, but withdrew the proposal due to concerns about the reaction of the Russian side. Now he’s ready to file again, with more legal backing. “We have to legally clean it up in detail, find every meter, every contract,” described former Deputy Foreign Ministry and current Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvořák (STAN), who prepared the materials with his team.
Part of the proposal will be the cancellation of some contracts concluded between 1970 and 1982, i.e. in the decade immediately following the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Soviet troops in August 1968. Thanks to them, Russia could use Czech real estate for free. The Czech Republic also wants to recover money for real estate that Moscow illegally used for business and other activities instead of diplomatic purposes. According to Deník N, the state would gain 50 million crowns.
The previous government of Andrej Babiš from ANO already started limiting the Russian presence. When Russia’s involvement in the explosion of ammunition warehouses in Vrbětice, where two Czechs were killed, came to light two years ago, it expelled dozens of Russian diplomats. “Russia is one of the biggest threats and we have to count on the fact that it will continue to be there. Everything depends on that,” explained Dvořák.
It is not clear whether the planned measures will also apply to the Russian House. The Czech Republic can wait for the European Union’s decision to extend sanctions directly to the Russian Centers of Science and Culture, or act on its own. “If there is no agreement on a pan-European approach, it can proceed in accordance with national legislation,” said Lukáš Kraus, head of State Reconstruction analysts.
If the government decided to close the centre, nothing would stop it from doing so. The house belongs to the Czech Republic and Russia has no ownership right to it. Such a step has already been taken, for example, by Germany, Finland or Romania.
In April of this year, the Finnish authorities seized the land and the building of the Russian center in Helsinki. In Germany, the Russian House is being investigated by the Berlin Prosecutor’s Office. The initiative was submitted by former deputy Volker Beck, according to whom it is unimaginable to spread Kremlin propaganda while people are dying in Ukraine every day due to Russian aggression. Romania closed the house on suspicion of involvement in disinformation justifying Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The connection of the Russian House to the domestic disinformation scene was monitored by the Czech Elves, who deal with the influence of fake news. “There is no doubt that the Russian House has its clear propaganda goals,” said their spokesman Bohumil Kartous, reminding that the institution is paid by the Russian state.
In their analysis, the elves state that the Czech disinformation mushroom has long been formed around the former head of the house, Andrej Končakov. The government expelled him in June 2020. According to the American agency McClatchyDC, which deals with political reporting from Washington, the then US President Donald Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen secretly met with Kremlin officials in the building in 2016. But Cohen denied visiting Prague.
Russian Center of Science and Culture in Prague | Photo: Libor Fojtík
