Lukes in The Daily Beast on Russia and the Czech Republic
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was recently interviewed for an article examining how the Czech Republic has served as a platform for Russian intelligence and security services, the SVR and the FSB, for more than a decade.
Lukes was quoted in a December 1, 2017 article in The Daily Beast entitled “The Next NATO Ally Russia Is Trying to Disrupt.”
From the text of the article:
Igor Lukes, a professor of history and international relations at Boston University, told The Daily Beast that Prague has for more than a decade served as a platform for Russian intelligence and security services, the SVR and the FSB. In addition to regular SVR personnel working under diplomatic cover at the Russian Embassy, there are also numerous agents under non-official cover who operate out of the Czech Republic.
“Furthermore,” says Lukes, “the FSB has recruited a significant number of informers among the large Russian diaspora in Prague, Karlovy Vary, and elsewhere. But perhaps the greatest footprint of Russian special services is visible in the electronic sphere—it seems as if a whole unit of dezinformatsia specialists worked on Czech media.”
There were some former devoted democrats among President Putin’s fans in Prague; one of them, former resident Vaclav Klaus, was hailed in the 1990s, as one of the most pro-Western of East European leaders. But he turned 180 degrees right after the annexation of Crimea, according to Lukes at Boston University. “Klaus and a dozen others among the current political elite act as if the Kremlin boss controls their every step. The present Czech leadership recklessly advances the Russian agenda by attacking the E.U., NATO, and the trans-Atlantic partnership, while praising Brexit and Brexiteers.”
Lukes notes that President Zeman’s supporters are interested in good business relations with Russia. “Take President Milos Zeman’s closest, adviser Martin Nejedly—his wealth comes exclusively from Russia and his contacts there; he is said to have Putin’s portrait on his mobile telephone.” The newly elected prime minister, billionaire Andrej Babis, said at a recent press conference that the Czech Republic is “east oriented.”
Igor Lukes writes primarily about Central Europe. His publications deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, and contemporary developments in East Central Europe and Russia. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1997 Lukes won the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching at Boston University.