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Moscow and the Czech Republic are expelling each other’s “diplomats” in a conflict over Russia’s sabotage campaign in Europe.
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The Czech Republic has also canceled a nuclear deal with Russia for good.
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“This project was essential not only for Russian revenues, but also for the influence on local business,” a source told Insider.
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Russia on Monday announced the expulsion of at least 20 Czech diplomats in a furious response to the destruction of Moscow’s most critical Central European intelligence station over the weekend, when Czech authorities accused Russian intelligence behind two blasts. at an ammunition depot in 2014.
The Czech Republic accused a notorious Russian intelligence unit involved in several operations in Europe and the United Kingdom of conducting two operations in 2014 that led to explosions at an ammunition factory in 2014. At the time, it was said that the ammunition was heading for Russia’s rivals in Ukraine. . After a nearly seven-year investigation into the blasts, Czech authorities detailed links between Russia’s GRU intelligence agency – including passports used in the 2018 Salisbury poisoning by GRU suspects – and began expelling Russian intelligence officers from Prague.
“Prague is a key station for [Russian intelligence] because it has a semi-friendly government and its central position within the European Union makes it an excellent logistics center for operations, “a central European intelligence officer following Russian operations in the area told Insider.
“The 18 ‘diplomats’ who were expelled from the Czech Republic are well-known intelligence officials from [various Russian services] and they were not only involved in operations targeting the Czech Republic, but also a large part of Europe, “the official said. For operational purposes, I am not sure that there is a more important EU station for Russians outside of Berlin. “
The Russian diplomatic mission in the Czech Republic has about 120 diplomats and staff, Czech officials said, more than twice the size of missions in countries of comparative size or the size of the Czech mission in Russia. Russia on Monday expelled 20 Czech diplomats in retaliation for the weekend move.
The Czech Republic has also banned a Russian company from bidding on billions of euros in contracts for the maintenance of the Dukovany nuclear power plant.
“The loss of this number of intelligence officers will reduce the amount of activity and capabilities of the Russians for the time being,” the European central official said. “And Putin will now see billions in losses in contracts in the nuclear sector. This project has been critical not only for revenues to Russia, but also for the influence on local business that the contract would give.”
“This is a real punishment for Russians, but I remain skeptical that this kind of thing affects their behavior, although it is possible that some intelligence officials may have explained how they could have been caught in such a sensitive and critical area as Russia. Czech Republic, “a NATO soldier said. information officer.
The 2014 incident, which triggered the confrontation, began when two men – who years later would become world famous on charges of driving the Salisbury poisoning – entered the Czech Republic under a set of passports, but asked access to an ammunition production facility under a second set of passports.
The ammunition was held by a Bulgarian arms dealer who a year later will be poisoned by the same deadly nerve agent used in Salisbury. The blast killed two Czech workers in what was believed to be an accident at the time.
But after Salisbury, the Russian unit – identified by Western intelligence services as GRU Unit 29155 – was exposed and both Czech officials and open-source investigators were able to easily link the movements of Russian officials to a series of European operations that they targeted Putin’s enemies. .
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