Czech intelligence chief Michal Koudelka has spent decades uncovering Russian spy networks, sabotage attempts and disinformation campaigns against Europe.
Speaking in an interview from a high-security compound on the outskirts of Prague, he is now warning allies that pushing Kyiv to accept significant concessions to end the war in Ukraine would only embolden the Kremlin.
“Russia would spend perhaps the next 10 to 15 years recovering from its huge human and economic losses and preparing for the next target, which is central and eastern Europe,” said Koudelka, a major general who heads the country’s Security Information Service.
Photo: AP
“If Ukraine loses, or is forced to accept a bad peace deal, then Russia will perceive that as victory,” he added.
His assessment is backed up by other European intelligence services. Germany’s top spy, Bruno Kahl, last month warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be prepared for a military engagement with NATO by the end of the decade.
Koudelka said that international law requires Russia to withdraw all troops, return occupied or annexed territories and pay reparations. Kyiv has recently come under pressure to consider new ways to lure Putin to negotiating table after 1,000 days resisting the invasion.
A former Soviet satellite, the Czech Republic is a staunch supporter of Ukraine, hosting hundreds of thousands of war refugees and organizing shipments of donated ammunition.
Together with Poland, as well as the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, it is trying to persuade other allies to keep arming the war-torn nation, despite waning public support and battlefield setbacks.
The 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine should remind Western nations that Russia is “an imperial superpower with imperial desires” and has “absolute disdain” for its military losses and civilian deaths, Koudelka said.
Since he became the intelligence chief eight years ago, the Czech Republic has taken drastic steps to reduce Russian intelligence capabilities and influence over local politics and business. It has banned Russian suppliers from a nuclear-energy project, reduced dependence on its natural gas and expelled a vast majority of the Kremlin’s spies with diplomatic cover.
Unlike some other European nations, the government in Prague has taken steps to make it harder for Russians to visit the country, own businesses or properties there, and obtain Czech citizenship. It is now trying to persuade the EU to ban Russian diplomats from traveling between member states without visas, as a way to further curb intelligence activity.
Still, Koudelka said his country remains a target for Russian hybrid warfare, including traditional spying, cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and subversion. The intelligence community across Europe is also preparing for likely threats after the war ends, such as an influx of Ukrainian veterans and the smuggling of arms that could end up in the wrong hands.
The 59-year-old lifelong counterterrorism and counterintelligence officer dismissed concerns in Europe that the incoming administration of US president-elect Donald Trump might weaken the security and intelligence cooperation between the US and Europe.
“I worked with our American partners under President Trump before and it was really great,” Koudelka said, pointing to his experience with intelligence sharing under previous administration. “The same is true now under President [Joe} Biden. And I am 100 percent convinced that it will be equally great during Trump’s second term.”
Koudelka called on Western nations to avoid exposing themselves to fresh security threats and economic dependencies when they resume business and diplomatic relations with Russia in the future.
He added that Russia was an “aggressor who only understands strength” and the outcome of the war would determine the likelihood of a future global conflict directly involving NATO.
“If facing a strong country or a strong alliance, Russia will make the calculation that it isn’t worth messing with it,” he said. “If, by contrast, Russia concludes that the war in Ukraine has paid off, and that European countries are weak and NATO lacks unity, then it may try something new.”
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
RSS