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The Czech Republic expels 18 Russian diplomats

At the same time, Czech police are hunting for two men with Russian passports who were also used by the suspects in the attack on the Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in England in 2018.

The two are wanted, suspected of having played a role in the explosion that claimed two lives in an ammunition depot, the police unit for organized crime informs.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis says Czech intelligence and security services have found clear evidence that agents from Russia’s military intelligence service GRU were involved in the explosions in Vrbetice in 2014.

Major damage

The facility was used by commercial defense suppliers, hundreds of personnel mines were stored there, and the material damage was extensive.

The Czech Republic will have to react to the findings, Babis said on Saturday night.

– 18 employees at the Russian embassy must leave our republic within 48 hours, says Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who is also acting foreign minister.

Identified

Czech intelligence has clearly identified the 18 as Russian spies, he adds.

Babis says he received the information on Friday that allegedly links Russian intelligence to the explosion. Why the investigation has taken so long, he does not explain.

In Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Prague is well aware of what is happening after “such tricks”.

Cleanup for two years

The first explosion occurred on October 16, 2014 in a warehouse in the town of Vrbetice with 50 tons of ammunition, 110 kilometers east of Prague. On 3 December of the same year, 13 tonnes of ammunition went into the air at the same place.

Subsequently, several thousand soldiers spent two years neutralizing undetonated equipment to make the area safe.

Babis says President Milos Zeman, who is known for his pro-Russian stance, “has expressed absolute support for us”, writes the news agency AP.

Salisbury

Hamacek believes the Czech Republic is in a situation similar to that in the UK after the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia in Salisbury in 2018.

Hamacek had planned a trip to Moscow on Monday, but it has now been canceled. He has received strong criticism from both Babis, other government colleagues and the opposition for the planned trip. In Moscow, he was to talk about the possibility of getting coronary vaccines from Russia.

Vaccine trouble

Babi’s minority government is under pressure due to the lame vaccination campaign in the Czech Republic. Just six months before the election, the online newspaper Seznam Zpravy revealed that the government has ordered less than half of the vaccines they have the opportunity to obtain through the EU.

On Thursday, the Czech Republic’s neighbor Poland expelled three Russian diplomats accused of committing acts that harmed the country.

At the same time, Poland gave “full support to the decisions the United States has taken regarding its policy towards Russia”, it was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.

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