The Czech Republic has threatened to expel all Russian diplomats

The Czech foreign minister said on Tuesday he was willing to expel all Russian diplomats from Prague after recent mutual expulsions, after his country accused the Russian secret services (GRU) of carrying out an attack on its territory in 2014.

“I am ready for anything. Even to build new relationships from scratch. Which means we’re going to send them all home. “ said Jan Hamacek, who is also head of the Interior portfolio.

The Czech Foreign Minister explained that he will summon Russian Ambassador Alexander Zmeievski on Wednesday to communicate new measures, after Moscow expelled 20 Czech diplomats in retaliation for the previous Czech decision to expel 18 Russians.

Hamaceck also called on the European Union and NATO to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity with Prague. “We call for collective action by EU and NATO member countries to carry out expulsions of solidarity”Hamacek told reporters.

The call comes after Prague accused the Russian secret services of carrying out a fatal explosive attack on Czech territory in 2014, the alleged perpetrators of which coincide with two suspects in an attempt to poison Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.

The 2014 explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice, in the eastern part of the Czech Republic, resulted in two deaths and significant property damage.

In this context, Prague also decided on Monday to exclude the Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom from a call for tenders for the construction of a new unit at a Czech nuclear power plant.

Hamacek also said his government would consider not buying the Sputnik V vaccine against covid-19, developed by Russia.

The United States strongly supported Prague on Sunday, the State Department also praised its strong response to “Russia’s subversive actions on Czech territory.”

The dispute is the largest between Prague and Moscow since the end of the decades of Soviet rule in Eastern Europe in 1989.

It also adds to growing tensions between Russia and the West in general, partly heightened by Russia’s growing military presence on its western borders and in Crimea, which Moscow annexed to Ukraine in 2014, following escalating fighting between Russia and the West. government and pro. -Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.

Russia has said the allegations in Prague are as absurd as ever blamed the tank owners for the Vrbetice explosion, 300 kilometers east of the capital.

He also called the expulsions “a continuation of a series of anti-Russian actions taken by the Czech Republic in recent years”, accusing Prague of “trying to please the US in the context of recent US sanctions against Russia”.

With information from AFP, EFE and Reuters

CONTINUE READING: