In today’s Vatnik Soup, we introduce our first Czech vatnik, Tomio Okamura. He’s best known for building a political career on xenophobia while being of mixed origins himself, and for pushing Kremlin narratives in Czechia, a country otherwise very supportive of Ukraine.

Okamura was born in Tokyo in 1972 to a Japanese-Korean father and Czech mother. He spent part of his childhood in Japan, and part in a Czechoslovak foster home where he was heavily bullied. His mixed origins made it difficult for him to fit in either country.

Nonetheless, after working odd jobs in Japan, Tomio returned to Czechia and became a successful entrepreneur in Japanese tourism. He then rose in politics: Senator in 2012, MP in 2013, he founded two parties: Dawn of Direct Democracy and SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy).

Despite having been treated as such himself, his political career is built mainly on hostility towards “outsiders”, foreigners, minorities. SPD brands itself as “direct democracy,” but its core positions are far-right, nationalist, anti-EU, anti-NATO, and anti-immigration.

Okamura and his party have repeatedly voted against resolutions supporting Ukraine and condemning Russian war crimes, thereby aligning with Russian interests.

The Czech Ministry of the Interior considers Okamura and his party as part of a hostile “fifth column”.

They push the usual stale vatnik BS about “Zelenskyy’s corrupt junta”, how helping Ukraine defend against Russian terrorism would “only prolong the conflict” and mean “escalation”, etc.

In turn, Russian-linked “alternative media” and troll farms promote their party.

Okamura is thus at odds with Czechia’s history and values: the country joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004; EU membership was approved in a 2003 referendum by 77%, while NATO enjoys 86% support per the latest polls. You can guess why: like Ukraine and other countries…

…in the Central/Eastern Europe region, Czechia has direct experience with Russian terror: it was invaded by the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact in 1968, and Soviet troops remained until 1991. The Czechs also know very well how it feels to be betrayed by the West, and how dangerous…

… it is to give territory to an invader—you know, “for peace”. The atrocities of Nazi occupation were followed by those of the Red Army. While partisans and GIs actually liberated part of the country, Stalin took all the credit and none of the blame.

May 9

Russian aggression isn’t abstract for Czechs, and it didn’t end with the Velvet Revolution. In 2014, an ammunition depot in Vrbětice was attacked by Russian saboteurs from GRU Unit 29155, the same unit behind the Salisbury Novichok poisoning. Two Czechs were killed.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Czechia became a leading supporter of Ukraine, including the crucial ammunition initiative, which Okamura vehemently opposes. Support for Ukraine has also been symbolic and with classic Czech humor:

🇺🇦🇨🇿 Prague, Czech Republic #SupportUkraine

Photo: Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic pic.twitter.com/Q8fxyMxZtM

— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) February 24, 2025

Prague renamed streets near the Russian embassy after opposition figures, and the Czech MFA has called out the Russian one. Czechia also symbolically annexed Kaliningrad, sorry, Královec. Justice Minister Eva Decroix has even praised Vatnik Soup.

Osvobození Královce

Private, civil society initiatives like Gift for Putin @GiftPutin @DarPutinovi raised tens of millions of euros for heavy military equipment, one of the largest citizen-funded defense efforts ever. Okamura, on the other hand, can’t even acknowledge who the aggressor is.

After the October 2025 elections, Okamura became Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies and his party formed a new government with Andrej Babiš. SPD got the ministry of defense with Jaromír Zůna. His initial statements were pro-Ukraine… until the party brought him back in line.

Okamura immediately removed the Ukrainian flag from the parliament building, which had been there since the full-scale invasion of February 24, 2022. But the response was telling: other MPs hung Ukrainian flags from their own offices, as well as on his, uhm, house.

Even though Czechia has relatively few systemic problems with immigration, SPD ran racist, anti-African billboards that landed the party in legal trouble. But where xenophobia meets pro-Kremlin narratives is where they really find their element — and Okamura revels in it.

Since 2022, 400,000 Ukrainian refugees received temporary protection in Czechia. Many of them work and pay taxes. But while Czechia chose solidarity, Okamura chose hatred, framing refugees as competitors rather than fellow human beings fleeing Russian aggression.

In conclusion, Tomio Okamura is a politician full of contradictions who turned past humiliation into political cruelty—and in doing so, serves the Kremlin, not his country. Okamura ignores Czechia’s collective memory: Western betrayal, Soviet occupation, Russian sabotage…

… and the awareness that Czechia could be next after Ukraine. But even Japan is helping Ukraine. Even Tomio’s brother, Hayato, is pro-Ukraine. Tomio, on the other hand, chose the Russian path: I suffered, so let’s make everyone else suffer too.

Make sure to follow @vatniksoup_cs , where the Czech version of this traditional Czech soup will soon be posted.

The book “Vatnik Soup – The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” is available in English (2nd edition), Danish and Czech:

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