From tanks to sabotage: How Russia never left Czechia alone
It’s been nearly 60 years since Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia. But as investigative journalist Jaroslav Spurný argues in his new book, "Vrbětice: The Attack that Changed the Czech Republic", Russia’s security services never truly left. Their tactics evolved—from military occupation to covert sabotage, money laundering, and disinformation campaigns. And Czech politicians, knowingly or not, often helped make it possible.
In the early hours of August 21, 1968, the people of Czechoslovakia woke to the rumble of tanks. The Soviet-led invasion marked the end of the Prague Spring and the beginning of more than two decades of occupation. But even after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Russia never truly withdrew from Czech public life. It simply changed its methods.
That’s the argument made by veteran journalist Jaroslav Spurný in his new book, Vrbětice: The Attack that Changed the Czech Republic. The book investigates the 2014 explosions at a military ammunition depot in Moravia—blasts that were later revealed to have been caused by operatives of the Russian GRU, Moscow’s military intelligence agency.
“Russia—and before it, the Soviet Union—has a massive advantage in that they act against open societies,” Spurný explains. “Democracies are open, and it's relatively easy to penetrate them with influence. But getting into a closed society like Russia is extremely difficult.”
According to Spurný, Czechia offered an ideal environment for Russian intelligence to operate. Even years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russian agents had extensive networks in the country—built on old contacts, business ties, and even state hospitality.
“Until the Vrbětice revelations, Russians had a very large embassy here. Czechia was a place where Russian intelligence operated with ease. They knew the country well—from the time of Soviet occupation—and even afterwards,” Spurný says. He notes that as of recent years, there were over 13,000 Russian-owned or Russian-majority companies active in the country. “They didn’t need to cause chaos. It was a safe zone for laundering money, buying property, and maintaining influence.”
But the Vrbětice attack marked a shift—not just in Russian behavior, but in how Czech institutions responded. Spurný believes that until then, many Czech politicians still hoped for an amicable relationship with Moscow. Even after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, some remained cautious not to “provoke” the Kremlin.
That illusion began to crumble with the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the exposure of multiple GRU sabotage operations across Europe—including in Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, and the UK.
Spurný warns that the Russian presence in Czechia went well beyond espionage. It included influence operations, disinformation, and what he calls “willing participants” among Czech politicians and public figures.
“The Russian embassy used to host receptions and regularly invited Czech politicians—some of whom had access to sensitive information. These may not have been paid agents, but valuable intelligence can be shared casually, even over drinks,” he says. Among the regular guests were figures from the Communist Party, SPD, and even then-President Miloš Zeman.
Spurný argues that Zeman’s presidency marked a turning point in the spread of Russian narratives inside the Czech public sphere. “He gave people permission—those who may have felt it was inappropriate before—to speak out in support of Russian propaganda.”
Today, the threat of disinformation remains. While the number of active propagandists may be small, their reach is disproportionate—Spurný estimates that around four percent of the population is regularly exposed to and spreads Russian narratives.
He ends the book with a chilling anecdote told by Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka: at a reunion of former KGB officers, a young GRU agent reportedly declared, “You old guys lost the Cold War. We’re here to win it back.”
For Spurný, that mindset encapsulates what the Czech Republic—and the broader democratic world—is still up against.
