FE Today Logo

Czechs expel 18 Russian envoys

Moscow will respond to 'unprecedented' Czech expulsions


April 19, 2021 00:00:00


Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis (right) and Czech Foreign Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek at a news conference in Prague on Saturday

MOSCOW, Apr 18 (Reuters): The Czech Republic is expelling 18 Russian diplomats over suspicions that Russian intelligence services were involved in an ammunition depot explosion in 2014, its government said on Saturday.

The central European country is a NATO and EU member state, and the expulsions and allegations have triggered its biggest row with Russia since the end of the communist era in 1989.

Its actions could prompt Russia to consider closing the Czech Republic's embassy in Moscow, a diplomatic source cited by Russian news agency Interfax suggested.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in a briefing shown live on television that there was "well-grounded suspicion about the involvement of officers of the Russian intelligence service GRU... in the explosion of an ammunitions depot in the Vrbetice area."

Several explosions shook the Vrbetice depot, 330 km (205 miles) southeast of Prague, in October 2014, killing two employees of a private company that was renting the site from a state military organisation.

Babis called the circumstances "unprecedented and scandalous", while a Russian lawmaker cited by Interfax described his allegation as absurd.

The US embassy in Prague said on Twitter that Washington "stands with its steadfast ally, the Czech Republic. We appreciate their significant action to impose costs on Russia for its dangerous actions on Czech soil."

Acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said the 18 Russian embassy staff, identified as secret service personnel, would be ordered to leave within 48 hours.

An AFP report adds: Russia on Sunday said it would retaliate against the Czech government's "unprecedented" decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats identified as secret agents.

"We will take retaliatory measures that will force the authors of this provocation to understand their full responsibility for destroying the basis of normal relations between our countries," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not specify which measures would be taken, but called the Czech announcement "absurd".

On Saturday, Czech authorities said they would expel 18 Russian diplomats identified by local intelligence as secret agents of the Russian SVR and GRU security services suspected of involvement in a 2014 explosion.

Czech police also said they were seeking two Russians in connection with the blast that killed two people, and who carried passports used by suspects in the attempted poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in 2018.

Moscow called the announcement a "hostile step" and alleged it bore a "trace" of involvement by Washington.

"In their desire to please the United States against the background of recent US sanctions against Russia, Czech authorities in this respect even outdid their masters from across the pond," the ministry added.


Share if you like