PM Petr Fiala said after returning from Kyiv on Tues. that we know that the sanctions against Russia are working and that there is no doubt that they need to be continued. VP Věra Jourová of the EU Commission told Czech Radio the same day that the commissioners are realists and didn’t expect economic sanctions to be able to stop such a brutal and vast act of military aggression. The Commission is in the process of conducting a closer analysis of the impact of the sanctions on the EU and Russia, she said, as requested by some member countries. The New York Times did its own analysis and found that the sanctions have had limited effect so far. The value of Russia’s exports has risen, the Times found, and there has been a remarkable change in international trade flows. Russian goods that were flowing to Europe are now going elsewhere. This kind of analysis isn’t generally tolerated in the Czech bubble and might even be labeled disinformation by the team of Interior Min. Vít Rakušan. A proper censorship office will also need clear rules for blocking leading Western news sources that undermine the war effort.

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