When ČEZ and the Castle collude with Russia

The months-long formation of a new Czech government has produced some wild speculation and bizarre reports, but last night's evening news on Czech TV was one of the stranger moments. ČT devoted 90 seconds to someone who will not be in the new cabinet and apparently was never even being considered. František Koníček will not be the industry ministry, ČT said in citing PM Andrej Babiš, and it then proceeded to talk about Koníček's links to the Castle, ČSSD, SPOZ, ČEZ and Rosatom. This came two hours after Babiš had spoken in a live broadcast about ČT's "campaign against Koníček." It was Babiš's own newspaper, LN, that had started the "campaign" on June 7 by reporting that the ones trying to get Koníček nominated to the position were Martin Nejedlý of the Castle, Babiš's adviser Jaroslav Ungerman and ČEZ CEO Daniel Beneš. ČT's intentions probably weren't to link Beneš to Russia, but that is the main result of its reports about non-Industry Min. Koníček.