The Ministry of internal Affairs of the Czech Republic has opened a Center to combat misinformation and hybrid threats. The facility has 20 employees who are monitoring threats related to the radicalization of political attitudes, terrorism and the prevention of disinformation campaigns on other countries in the Czech Republic, reports Polish radio.
The centre is open after the warnings of the Czech counter-intelligence about the actions of Russia against the Czech Republic. According to the assessment of the Czech intelligence services, cyber war, waged in the so-called Internet “trolls”, is to undermine the credibility of NATO and the European Union institutions and to support populist and extremist movements.
At the same time, Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his Pro-Russian sympathies, has criticized the initiative of establishing such a center. He stated that the operation aimed against the freedom of speech, and compared it with the office of preventive censorship in the period of socialist Czechoslovakia.
As head of the Centre for combating misinformation and hybrid threats, the establishment of this institution previously agreed with the security services of the country, and there were no objections.
According to the report, the issue of misinformation and the likely hybrid warfare can initiate Russia, interested in a lot of European States. Finland said that the European Union and NATO planning on its territory to create a center prevent hybrid threats.
Last month, the German internal security Agency informed of the increased activity of Internet users, who are promoting the Russian point of view, and about attacks against political parties. Similar actions associated with protection against fake information being spread by the Chinese propaganda, the beginning of Indonesia.
