Czech Republic to expel Belarusian national — longtime resident and ex-Radio Liberty journalist — over GRU ties

The Czech government has imposed sanctions on Natalia Sudliankova, a Belarusian journalist with refugee status, whom the Czech counterintelligence service (BIS) suspects of cooperating with the Russian military intelligence agency GRU, the Czech publication Respect reports.

BIS representatives stated that Sudliankova had carried out missions for the Russian intelligence service, without disclosing the specifics of her activities. As Sudliankova's handler, the agency names GRU officer Alexei Shavrov, who is also on the sanctions list.

As Deník N writes, citing sources close to the government apparatus, Sudliankova is accused of long-term, deliberate dissemination of propaganda in the field of national security and energy. She is also charged with developing and promoting the interests of the Russian nuclear operator Rosatom, which sought to build a nuclear power plant in Temelin and then in Dukovany.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky stated that “Natalia Sudliankova is a key GRU collaborator, and for many years she worked covertly and knowingly in the Czech Republic for the GRU, the Fund for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad, and the Immortal Regiment of Russia.” She also acted in the interests of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov. The minister explained that in recent years, she had received tens of thousands of euros in cryptocurrencies from the Russian side for publishing certain articles.

Sudliankova served as editor-in-chief of the Prague Telegraph, a Russian-language weekly published in the Czech capital. Previously, she was also an editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and wrote for Tyden and Lidove Noviny.

The Czech Republic granted her political asylum in 1999. Before that, in Belarus, she was involved in activism and ran for parliament from the opposition association known as the United Civil Party. “I had certain problems with Mr. Lukashenko and people from his team. We could not stay in the same fatherland,” Sudliankova stated on Czech television in 2011 without further explanation.

Last year, Sudliankova did not respond to calls or messages, although she used to be very active in the media space. For one, in 2014, Sudliankova told Respect that the Russian army was not fighting in Ukraine and that “the conflict was provoked by two oligarchs.” That same year, in an interview with Radiožurnál, she wondered why the European Union was tightening sanctions against Russia.

Earlier, Czech Transport Minister Martin Kupka told the Financial Times that the confrontation between Russia and the West is expressed, among other things, in the desire to destabilize Europe's critical infrastructure. He said Russia had been making “thousands of attempts” to disrupt rail traffic in the Czech Republic for the previous two years. According to him, Russia employed such techniques as hacker attacks on signaling systems and the railway network of national operator České dráhy to disable ticketing systems. Kupka said that despite the gravity of the situation, the Czech government had managed to protect all systems from attacks.