Czech Republic: alliance of Le Pen's partners and the communists against the allies of Vox

@ElentirENG ES 9·07·2022 · 7:00 0

The Kremlin is activating all its terminals, including the political ones, to put pressure on Europe. This is the only way to explain certain coincidences.

A European NGO points to Vox as the Spanish party that most opposes the Putin regime
Russia's ultimatums to NATO and to the US: Putin wanted a Europe subservient to Moscow

A very difficult time for Russia in the economic field

Although their propaganda tries to sell the idea that Russian sanctions are mainly affecting the countries of the European Union, the reality is very different. The Russian government itself acknowledged yesterday that this year Russia may see a 2.9% contraction in its economy this year. Keep in mind that the Kremlin rarely tells the truth. A few weeks ago the Russian Central Bank raised that contraction to a 6%, and at the end of August experts and academics, using data from the IMF and the World Bank, calculated that Russian GDP may fall by 9.5% in 2022, more than three times what acknowledges the Kremlin. In addition, Russia may experience a 40% annual drop in income between 2022 and 2023: about 140,000 million dollars less.

Time is running against Russia in its invasion of Ukraine

In addition to the economic situation, Putin has failed in his invasion of Ukraine, which is causing huge losses to the russian armed forces. The more time passes, the more likely it is that Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine and the more likely that Ukrainian forces will regain lost ground, as they are already doing in the Kherson region. Time is against Putin and now we are going to see the effects of his haste, through those who defend Russia's interests in the West.

Russia mobilizes its political terminals: the case of the Czech Republic

Many people seem to ignore it, but the Kremlin devotes considerable resources to propaganda abroad, in an attempt to influence Western society in order to favor its interests. In view of the desperate situation in Russia and recent events, it seems that Putin has begun to move his pawns to put pressure on the West and alleviate the damage that the sanctions are doing to the Russian economy. An example of these movements has recently occurred in the Czech Republic, exhibiting a paradox: the alliance of pro-Russian parties of the right and of the far-left to favor the interests of Russia.

Last Saturday, the party Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) organized a protest in Prague calling for the resignation of the government headed by Petr Fiala, demanding the adoption of a policy of neutrality in the face of the invasion of Ukraine and the cessation of arms shipments to this country, the cessation of sanctions against Russia was requested and criticizing the reception of Ukrainian refugees. The protest managed to gather some 70,000 people and was actively spread by pro-Russian propagandists on social media.

The pro-Russian right of the SPD, the Czech allies of Le Pen

The demands of that demonstration seemed to be written by the Russian embassy, which is no surprise. The SPD is a right-wing party and the Czech partner of the Identity and Democracy group, which brings together right-wing parties from different European countries, including Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement National, the German AfD, the Austrian FPÖ and the Italians of the Lega. What happened in Prague is not an isolated case. A month ago Le Pen already criticized the sanctions against Russia, stating that "they only serve to make the citizens of Europe suffer": the same slogan spread by the Kremlin's propaganda media.

Again we are not facing any surprise. In December 2021 I already pointed out the affinity of Identity and Democracy to Russia as one of the main stumbling blocks that separate it from the conservatives of the ECR. In fact, Identity and Democracy is one of the two most pro-Russian groups in the European Parliament. The other is The Left, which brings together communist parties and other far-left formations. Among the partners of The Left are the most pro-Russian parties in Spain (Izquierda Unida and Podemos) and also the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM), heir to the single party of the communist dictatorship.

Pro-Russian communists from KSČM also joined the demonstration

Coincidentally, KSČM joined the SPD demonstration last Saturday. The Communist Party has posted a video on its official website showing its participation in the march, in which KSČM members wore red t-shirts with the slogan "Volim komunisty" (I vote for the communists):

The newspaper Seznam Zprávy commented on Saturday that SPD MEP Hynek Blaško and communist Josef Skála, the KSČM presidential candidate, made speeches from the tribune of the demonstration. The newspaper Novinky.cz has also pointed out the presence in the tribune of Žarko Jovanovič, one of the most influential pro-Russian activists in the Czech Republic, linked to the SPD and with the Russian state television VGTRK.

This paradoxical union between a right-wing party and a communist party has not come as a surprise in the Czech Republic either. In January 2020, the SPD and the KSČM supported the Russian annexation of Crimea. Like their European partners, both parties effectively act as the Czech terminals for the Kremlin.

The Czech Prime Minister is a conservative of the ECR

The curious thing about this case is that the Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, whose resignation was requested by the SPD and the KSČM, is a member of the Democratic Civic Party, the Czech partner the ECR, the European Parliament group that brings together conservative and Atlanticist parties such as Vox (Spain), Fratelli d'Italia and Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS), the ruling party in Poland. It so happens that in the ECR are the parties of the European Parliament most opposed to Russia. The members of the ECR have openly condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have shown their support for the invaded and have actively supported military aid to the Ukrainians.

Vox's solution to solve the energy problem without submitting to Putin

What happened in the Czech Republic shows to what extent the pawns of the Kremlin are breaking the bridges between the European right. It is logical that many citizens feel overwhelmed by the rise in electricity and gas prices, largely due to the Russian invasion, but the solution is to ask for tax reductions and an end to the obstacles put in place by the left to gas extraction and nuclear energy, which is what Vox has proposed in Spain. These measures would not only make it possible to lower electricity prices, but would also reduce Europe's dependence on Russian gas.

Putin's pawns want us to remain dependent on Russia

On the contrary,Putin's European pawns seem determined to favor Russia's interests over the interests of their own countries, condemning them to be dependent on Russian gas, which also means being hostages of the whims and blackmail of the Putin regime. In fact, the Polish government had been warning for years of the risk Europe was running of being blackmailed by Putin with projects such as Nord Stream 2, the gas pipeline with which Russia intended to send gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

What happened in the Czech Republic will not be the last episode of this curious confluence between the pro-Russian right and extreme left. Moscow will use all its political, media and digital terminals to put pressure on Europe and submit it to its whims, which is the situation that Putin has been seeking for years. What Western propagandists want from Russia is that we wipe the slate clean with the Kremlin, as if the invasion of Ukraine had not happened, as if the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Russians they didn't matter Ukraine has heroically resisted Russian bombs and missiles. It is now up to the citizens of the EU to resist Putin's blackmail. We are risking our freedom against a tyrant who wants to submit us to his will.

---

Main photo: KSČM.