Jan Hrnčíř is a Czech politician. He belongs to Freedom and Direct Democracy and has been sitting in the House of Representatives since 2017, a year before he became a representative of the South Moravian Region and in 2018 also a representative of Blansko. As an MP, he is vice-chairman of the budget committee and the subcommittee for science and universities. Based on his political career, he helps spread Russian influence.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine started an intense debate about the need to diversify Czech energy sources, which until now had been dependent on Russian suppliers. The administration of Petr Fiala organised and with the contribution of the Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela (STAN) executed several measures to reduce reliance on Russia. It found backing mainly from the government parties, and their decisions were largely opposed by the SPD, including Jan Hrnčíř.
According to research, SPD Member of Parliament Jan Hrnčíř systematically extends pro-Russian disinformation and thus enables to legitimise Russia in the eyes of the Czech public. For example, he challenged the conclusions of the Czech secret services about the involvement of GRU officers in the explosion of ammunition warehouses in Vrbětice or the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. Among other things, Hrnčiř gave discussions to the Russian propaganda website Sputnik.
In reaction to Russia’s long-standing aggression against Ukraine, the international community assumed a series of sanctions aimed at Russia. For example, the European Union assumed six packages of sanctions, including economic sanctions, individual sanctions, limitations on Russian media, travel limitations on citizens of the Russian Federation, and a number of diplomatic actions. In the Czech Republic, MP Jan Hrnčíř from the opposition SPD are the most uncertain about sanctions, while MPs from the governing coalition support sanctions the most.
On April 17, 2021, the Prime Minister at the time, Andrej Babiš, together with the Minister of the Interior, Jan Hamáček, reported that the Czech Security Information Service had clear proof of the involvement of the Russian military intelligence GRU in the explosion of ammunition storages in Vrbětice, which emerged in 2014. Part of the Czech political scenes, especially from the ranks of the Pirates, ODS, TOP 09, KDU-ČSL and STAN, clearly expressed itself towards Russia or demanded a harder reaction from the state against Russia. MPs from the SPD including Jan Hrnčíř on the other hand, mainly challenged the findings of the Czech secret services and criticised the government for dismissing employees of the Russian embassy in Prague.
