Russia was behind the campaign against Pavel during the Czech presidential elections

The manipulatively edited video about the presidential candidate Petr Pavel was disseminated by the Russian propaganda channel NeČT24, according to Czech Interior Ministry’s center against hybrid threats.

After the first round of the 2023 presidential elections, “a widespread and massive wave of online attacks across the entire quasi-media ecosystem arose” against Pavel. These attacks before the second round included a widely shared and manipulatively edited video in which Pavel seemingly declared that the Czech Republic must enter the war with the Russian Federation, although he never actually said this publicly.

The video appears to have been uploaded to the digital space for the first time by the Telegram account NeČT24 – the new account of the Russian propaganda outlet Sputnik, which is on the EU sanctions list, the Interior Ministry says. “It can thus be concluded that disinformation activity by a foreign power, aimed at damaging one of the candidates, was recorded as part of the Czech presidential elections in 2023.”

“A fake video is circulating on the Internet,” Petr Pavel, who was elected the president despite the Russia-backed campaign, wrote on Twitter. “Look at the original, how I answered a lady in Ostrava to her questions. At the end, you will see how they edited my answer. But lies and manipulation will not win this election. Please share the truth.”

Na internetu koluje falešné video. Podívejte se na originál, jak jsem odpověděl jedné paní v Ostravě na její otázky. Na závěr uvidíte, jak mou odpověď sestříhali. Lež a manipulace ale v těchto volbách nezvítězí. Sdílejte prosím pravdu. pic.twitter.com/SsRh2Oiudg

— Petr Pavel (@general_pavel) January 22, 2023