Investigations continue on European political forces allied to Russia. Photo Credit: Freepik
Prague, Sept 17 (CTK) – A long-standing employee of the Czech Foreign Ministry cooperated with the Russian intelligence service (SVR) and leaked secret information to them, according to reports in Denik N on Thursday, which cited PM Petr Fiala, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and the Czech counter-intelligence service (BIS).
It was BIS that discovered the suspicious official, monitored him for several years, and acquainted Fiala and Lipavsky with the case in the first half of this year, Denik N wrote.
The official had to leave the ministry, wrote Denik N, corroborated by the Aktualne.cz and Respekt.cz news sites.
The official had the highest security clearance, ie. top secret level, Denik N wrote, citing sources from the ministry. He worked at the ministry from the 1990s, and besides posts in the Prague headquarters, he also worked at Czech embassies, including in an African country.
“I can confirm that I decided that steps be taken, as a result of which the employee who cooperated with a foreign power does not work at the ministry any more. For security reasons, I will not comment further,” said Lipavsky (Pirates).
“I have been informed about the affair and I appreciate the work of the secret services, in this case of BIS. This proves that [Czech] security services work well and for the benefit of Czech citizens,” Fiala (ODS) told Denik N.
Confirming the story, BIS spokesman Ladislav Sticha told Denik N that the service had monitored the activities of one Foreign Ministry employee in relation to the Russian intelligence service.
According to Denik N, BIS found out several years ago that SVR had a source of sensitive information at the Czech Foreign Ministry, and identified and shadowed the source.
“The Russian intelligence service made use of his weakness for women and money,” Denik N quoted one of its diplomatic sources as saying.
It is not clear whether the police are investigating or will prosecute the man over leaking information to Russia, which is now conducting a war of aggression against Ukraine.
According to a high-ranking source from the Czech judiciary, speaking to Denik N on condition of anonymity, this is unlikely: “This cannot be done, because intelligence information is involved that cannot be presented in court. The current law does not enable it.”
