Moscow backed European leaders on Tuesday after being accused of involvement in a 2014 bomb blast at an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic, accusing the West of harboring “anti-Russian mass hysteria.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remark, according to Reuters, while denying that Moscow was responsible for raising tensions with the West, even though tens of thousands of Russian troops are gathered near the border with Ukraine.
His remarks came in response to allegations in the Czech Republic over the Vrbetice explosion that killed two people. Czech police have released photos of suspects who strongly resemble two suspects previously accused of involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain
“It was announced by the Czech authorities that the two GRU officers accused of attempting to kill the Salripbury Skripals, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were also behind the deaths of two civilians and the explosion in the Czech town of Vrbetice. “, said the United Kingdom’s foreign office in a statement obtained by CNN.
In response to the findings, Czech officials moved to expel more than a dozen Russian diplomats from the country, a move that was met with mutual expulsions of Czech diplomats from Moscow.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry has dismissed the Czech government’s expulsions as “based on unfounded and lengthy apologies” and accused Prague of trying to please the US.
It was “an effort to thank the US amid recent US sanctions against Russia, the Czech authorities have outdone even their overseas masters in this regard,” a foreign ministry statement said on Sunday.