Is the editor-in-chief of Russian Sputnik still trying to influence public opinion in the Czech Republic?
Alexei Sarychev, the editor-in-chief of Sputnik, who published an edited recording of President Petr Pavel ahead of the second round of the presidential election, has still active “clones” in the Czech Republic.. A group of anonymous accounts that go by the name of Jiri Novak operate on Telegram in the same way Sarychev used to and continue to promote the Russian propaganda channel Sputnik. This was revealed by the Demagog.cz investigation project.
“After our exposure of Sarychev’s activities in the Czech Republic last year and the subsequent publication in the Czech and foreign media, his activity has been curtailed. However, due to the significant influence of the propaganda Sputnik in the Czech Republic, we have continued to monitor Sarychev,” says Jan Fridrichovsky, the editor-in-chief of Demagog.cz, in his introduction to the next publication.
Fake videos and the manipulation of the public
First of all, let us recall that in July 2023, a manipulated video of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky being booed during a visit to Prague Castle went viral on social media. However, the sound of the booing came from an earlier demonstration against Milos Zeman. The video was first shared by the telegram account Alexej (@wienurowsky), which Demagog.cz identified as the account of Alexej Sarychev, the editor-in-chief of the Czech version of the Russian propaganda server Sputnik.
Alexey Sarychev originally promoted the Sputnik Czech Republic website and its @SputnikCzech channel on Telegram. After Sputnik was blocked in the EU, its Telegram successor was created under the name @neCT24, which Sarychev immediately began promoting as well. Later, he also linked to the posts of its sister channel, Marshal Malinovsky, which focuses on the Russian–Ukrainian conflict.