The Czech police protection unit has launched a probe into an appearance by Czech Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Petr Macinka (Motorists) in an interview with the Detektivní Parta (Detective band) online platform.

Macinka agreed to the fake interview which took place on August 21 at an apparently unsecured premises with fake guns and explosives within reach of masked online activist Vojtěch Pšenák, who posed as “Thomas Paukner”, sparking a media outcry over the country’s top diplomat’s disregard for elementary security.

“It is apparent from several points of view that it was not a really standard situation in providing security for the protected person,” spokesperson of the country’s protection services Tomáš Procházka was quoted as saying by Czech Radio (CRo) on September 4.

The YouTube platform Detektivní Parta, linked also to Mike Oganesjan and MikeJePan, who was previously investigated by police in connection to his insolvency, issued a press statement on September 3, which included screenshots of the chat conversation between “Thomas Paukner” and Macinka that carried on until August 29.

“Investigative group Detektivní Parta carried out an experiment in August of this year whose aim was to inquire into the security and cognitive abilities of the Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and member of the State Security Council Petr Macinka,” the press statement reads.

Macinka said in his defence that “I usually walk like that [to interviews], it is my decision. A security officer was present there as well. It is common that a policeman is not with you in the studio, I’ve experienced it a thousand times,” CRo reported.

Macinka also claimed it was apparent to him that it was not a real interview, stating on his Facebook page on September 2 that “hooded Mr. Pšenák tried to look like Thomas Paukner but only a completely blind and deaf man would not recognise his “sportsy” [implying robust] shape and typical meowy expression”.

However, Czech journalists pointed out that it is not very clear from the released conversation between Macinka and Detektivní Parta whether Macinka was indeed aware he was being tricked.

“It was enough for them to send an email from pauknermedia.cz domain to the party profile of Petr Macinka,” Czech investigative journalist Lukáš Valášek told CRo in a podcast interview.

“Macinka responded to it very fast and began to text Paukner and set up an interview,” Valášek continued, adding that “all this in a situation when it was enough to check in public domain register in two minutes that this domain belongs to people linked to Detektivní Parta.”

Valášek also recalled that the foreign ministry was previously the target of hacking attacks linked to China and Russia, making Macinka’s disregard for elementary security checks hard to defend.

He described the online profile of Paukner as “a PR or marketing operation” and “we don’t know who finances it, for what purpose, and what goals it pursues,” noting that government politicians “like to use … alternative media to present what they want without opposing voices and critical questions”.  

Macinka is a chairman of the anti-green and eurosceptic Motorists for Themselves party and previously worked for former president Václav Klaus' climate sceptic think-tank IVK, which climate and media analysts criticise for casting doubt on climate change and spreading climate disinformation.