Jan Mládek is a Czech economist and Social Democratic politician. He acted as Minister of Industry and Trade from 2014 to 2017. Between 2005 and 2006 Mládek also was Minister of Agriculture in Paroubek’s cabinet. He also performed as a member of the Chamber of Deputies.
He is one of the politicians whose opinions conform to Russian propaganda. He rejects economic sanctions against Russia, esteems Putin and criticizes the West for its difficult handling of the Kremlin. Jan Mládek, the minister for Industry and Trade, is among them and is supposed to be an authentic pro-Russian politician. Jan Mládek systematically probes sanctions against Russia and does not consider in their expected positive effect.
Although his position, for instance, in the structures of the European Union is considerably damaging, for the Kremlin, the Czech minister – otherwise also an authentic Russophile – is one of the significant figures in the Czech Republic. His function, in which he is in control of strategic concepts on energy and Czech export policy. It also systematically publicly challenges the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions.
“I don’t think that the sanctions, as they are, can transform anything. Their political influence is nil, and economically Russia may have issues, but this will hurt the population rather than the government,” he stated about them. It is precisely because of his perspective towards sanctions that the Minister of Industry has his standing in the Neovlivní.cz ranking.
Although the minister is usually referred to in the media as one of Putin’s main agents in Czech politics, he defends his role with the argument that he is concerned exclusively with the function of Czech companies: “The experience is that the USA imposes sanctions, and then they are the fastest to cancel them and American companies then have the largest share there. We would not like Czech companies to become victims of these games.”
Jan Mládek also did not acquire a security clearance. Journalists then publicised that it was because of his relations with the Russian community in the Czech Republic, which he covered during the background check.
