Eighteen employees of the Russian embassy, who were found to be members of the Russian secret services, should leave the Czech Republic within the next 48 hours.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced this, Aktualne.cz reports.
“On Friday night, Deputy Prime Minister and I were clearly informed of serious facts concerning the security of our country. Today we briefed President Zeman on the case and the proposed course of action, and the president expressed absolute support for us,” Babis said.
According to him, “there is a reasonable suspicion that officers of the Russian secret service GRU, unit 29155, were involved in the explosion of ammunition depots in the Vrbetice complex in 2014.” The explosion, the Czech government headnotes, caused enormous material damage, and most importantly, led to the deaths of two local residents.
“I am very sorry that Czech-Russian relations will suffer because of this. However, as the prime minister has already said, the Czech Republic must respond,” Deputy Prime Minister said, comparing the current situation to the Salisbury poisoning of 2018.
“As Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, I have decided to expel all employees of the Russian embassy in Prague whom our intelligence services have clearly identified as employees of the Russian secret services SVR and GRU. The 18 employees of the Russian embassy must leave the Czech Republic within 48 hours,” he added.
We would like to add that the day before Minister was going to Moscow next Monday to discuss the details of the purchase of the Russian vaccine “Sputnik V”. However, on Friday his visit was unexpectedly canceled.
