Final Word from Thursday, February 1, 2018

One of Jiří Drahoš's main lines of attack against Miloš Zeman was to link him to efforts by the Russian intelligence services to influence the elections. Drahoš said over and over that he had no doubt that the Russians had a special interest in Zeman's remaining at the Castle. During the final days of the campaign Drahoš was getting indirect support from the Prague-based operations of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. A video profile of Zeman on Jan. 8 started with tanks on Red Square and emphasized the allegations that Zeman's 2013 campaign was partly bankrolled by businessmen with links to the Kremlin. An election day report in Russian said that Zeman had been repeatedly exposed in distorting facts and telling outright lies. Zeman might be one of the most pro-Russian European politicians, as RFE/RL notes, but he is also the sole president of a Nato or EU country with a foreign-financed government media operation working against him right in his own backyard. [Czech Republic U.S. Congress United States]