Czech Defence News of the Week (19th – 26th July 2019)

On 19th July Czech soldiers from NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltics and from the Air Advisory Team in Iraq received awards at the Vítkov Memorial in Prague. - The Military Police started to prosecute four people in connection with last year's death of Vahidullah Khan in Afghanistan. - The Perun vehicle designed for use with the 601st SFG did not meet the required criteria during the recent tests by the Military Technical Institute. - Last year, the police detected 4992 foreigners who stayed illegally in the Czech Republic. - According to the director of the Security Information Service (BIS) Michal Koudelka, activities of Russian and Chinese intelligence services against the interests of the Czech Republic are among the most serious risks for the future.

• On 19^th July Czech soldiers from NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence in the Baltics and from the Air Advisory Team in Iraq received awards at the Vítkov Memorial in Prague for their work in foreign missions. The unit from Iraq ends its deployment after three years. Aleš Opata, Chief of the General Staff, said that the mission was successful and helped Iraq to fight the Islamic State terrorist group. Czech Air Advisory Team helped Iraqi pilots and ground personnel to handle the L-159 aircraft. Commander of the Czech unit in Latvia Lieutenant David Trnečka said that working in NATO's forward presence in the Baltics is different from other missions at which the soldiers take part. Their task was to train together with nine other nations.

• The Military Police started to prosecute four people in connection with last year's death of an Afghan soldier. The police intervened at the General Staff and in Prostějov on Wednesday, 24^th July. "Four persons have been prosecuted for an offense of not reporting a crime," the prosecutor's office said. No further information is available. A member of the Afghan Armed Forces Vahidullah Khan, whose death is under investigation, reportedly shot a Czech soldier Tomas Prochazka at the Shandandan Base in Herat province, Afghanistan, last fall. In November The New York Times published an article about an investigation of Czech and American soldiers who allegedly participated in his killing.

See also: Foreign deployments: Czech casualties since 1991

• Getting a brand new customized vehicle may not always be the best solution for the Army. At least that seems to be the experience of the Army of the Czech Republic, which demanded a four-wheeled open combat vehicle for its 601^st Special Forces Group. The only bidder to enter the tender two years ago was Perun by the SVOS company, but the vehicle suffers from a number of problems. The Perun vehicle did not meet the required criteria (maximum and minimum speed, weight, size, departure angle) during the recent tests by the Military Technical Institute (VTÚ). Yet the vehicle was eventually advanced for army tests.

See also: Perun 4x4 Special Operation Vehicle for the 601st SFG

• Last year, the police detected 4992 foreigners who stayed illegally in the Czech Republic. This is 254 more than in 2017 and 269 less than in 2016. Thus, the number of migrants detained does not differ significantly from data from recent years. As in previous years, the largest group of detected immigrants were Ukrainians. Ukrainians have been among the most frequently detained foreigners since 2008. The exception was 2015, when the migration crisis culminated and most of the migrants crossed the Czech Republic to other countries. Last year, the police detained nearly 1,500 Ukrainians, which is over 30 percent of all illegal arrivals. Moldovans, Vietnamese, Russians and Georgians followed.

• According to the director of the Security Information Service (BIS) Michal Koudelka, activities of foreign intelligence services against the interests of the Czech Republic are among the most serious risks for the future. According to him, the most active and aggressive are the Russian intelligence services together with the Chinese intelligence services. The BIS chief also expects counterintelligence to address right-wing extremism in the near future. He also said that cyber threats will increase in the future.

See also: Paramilitary groups - a growing threat aimed by the Security Information Service