Against the backdrop of a renewed EU debate on extending anti-Russian sanctions, some Slovak and Czech pro-Russian media outlets have begun promoting more aggressively the idea that further support for Ukraine is pointless and should be reduced. Zem&Vek and Pravý Prostor stood out in particular. The Slovak outlet framed the EU’s purchase of missiles for Ukraine’s Patriot systems as a continuation of a “war to the last Ukrainian,” while the Czech site linked Europe’s economic problems to militarization, support for Kyiv, and anti-Russian sanctions. For local audiences, such claims can appear more persuasive because they are presented not as Russian propaganda but as internal criticism of EU and NATO policy.
The information campaign unfolded amid a new escalation in the EU debate over anti-Russian sanctions. Slovakia opposes moving from a six-month to a one-year rollover of personal sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities and insists on keeping a review every six months. Bratislava is also seeking to have Russian oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman removed from the sanctions list. Because extending these restrictions requires unanimity among member states, preserving the six-month cycle gives Robert Fico’s government extra room to use the sanctions issue for political bargaining and to delay decisions.
A telling example was Zem&Vek’s 9 September 2026 article on the European Union’s purchase of missiles for the U.S. Patriot systems used by Ukraine. Already in the headline, the decision was framed not as a strengthening of Ukrainian air defense amid constant Russian missile and drone attacks, but as an attempt to force Kyiv to continue a “war to the last Ukrainian.” The outlet then described Ukraine’s leadership as corrupt, accused Volodymyr Zelensky of refusing to end the war, and steered readers toward the conclusion that new Western weapons do not protect Ukraine but prevent the war from ending. Earlier, Zem&Vek had portrayed European sanctions as part of the “hybrid war of the collective West” against Russia and claimed that Moscow was successfully neutralizing them. Another piece argued that the West’s real aim was the dismemberment of Russia and that the war against Ukraine was merely a pretext for long-planned sanctions pressure.
Zem&Vek’s long-standing contacts with Russian officials also deserve separate attention. As early as May 2014, the outlet’s editor-in-chief, Tibor Eliot Rostas, met with then-Russian ambassador to Slovakia Pavel Kuznetsov. Their conversation touched on possible Russian support for media projects. According to StopFake, citing a recording of the meeting, Kuznetsov promised to “write to Moscow” and help establish contacts with “the relevant Russian structures.” In June 2015, Rostas took part in a roundtable in Moscow organized by the journal Mezhdunarodnaya Zhizn, which is linked to Russia’s Foreign Ministry. The Russian International Affairs Council reported at the time that the event was devoted to creating a “Russia-friendly territory” in Central and Eastern Europe. The contacts continued later: in April 2024, Zem&Vek reported a visit to its newsroom by Russian ambassador Igor Bratchikov, who discussed with Rostas Slovakia’s relations with NATO and the idea of a “neutral zone” in Central Europe. Researchers have also repeatedly documented borrowings and translations from RT, Sputnik, and other Russian sources.
The Czech conspiracist and pro-Russian site Pravý Prostor joined in spreading similar talking points. In a 9 September 2026 piece titled “Nebude to snadné: Západ našel zbraň poslední instance” (“It Won’t Be Easy: The West Has Found a Weapon of Last Resort”), it explained the West’s economic problems as the result of supposedly “uncontrolled militarization,” support for Ukraine, “aggression against Russia,” and “stupid sanctions” that were said to be boomeranging back on their authors. At the same time, it offered readers the opposite image of Russia as a country where life is supposedly “better and richer” than in Europe.
The Russian origin of the material is also visible in how it spread. On 1 September 2026, CZ24.news published it and named RIA Novosti as the original source; the text was in fact a translation with only minor editorial changes. Pravý Prostor reproduced the Russian propaganda piece almost without adaptation and even left in the phrase about “the shock therapy we in Russia got used to thirty years ago.” The pronoun “we” clearly refers to a Russian audience and points directly to a mechanical translation and retransmission. Notably, other publications on the site have repeatedly questioned the very concept of Russian propaganda, treated calls to halt military aid to Ukraine as a condition for peace, and framed resistance to Kremlin disinformation as censorship and the imposition of a “single correct opinion.”
Russia is increasingly pushing its own propaganda constructs through pro-Russian Czech and Slovak media outlets in almost unaltered form. The systematic repetition of the same claims, their closeness to the rhetoric of Russian state media and officials, and the stable distribution channels point to a coordinated information campaign aimed at weakening public and political support for Ukraine in Europe. The Kremlin wants to convince European audiences that aid to Ukraine is too expensive, that sanctions do not work, and that continued Ukrainian resistance only prolongs the war. In this way, Moscow seeks to increase domestic pressure on EU governments as they decide on weapons deliveries, sanctions extensions, and further support for Ukraine. That is why local pro-Russian outlets such as Zem&Vek and Pravý Prostor are especially valuable to Moscow: they allow Kremlin narratives to be presented not as Russia’s own position, but as an allegedly homegrown demand from part of European society.
