PRAGUE (AP) – The Czech Republic announced on Saturday that it has expelled 18 Russian diplomats it identified as spies in a case linked to a massive ammunition depot explosion in 2014.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the move is based on “unambiguous evidence” provided by the Czech intelligence and security services pointing to the involvement of Russian military agents in the massive explosion in an eastern city that killed “two innocent fathers”.
“The Czech Republic is a sovereign state and must respond appropriately to those unprecedented findings,” Babis said.
Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who also serves as the country’s foreign minister, said the 18 staff members of the Russian Embassy were clearly identified as spies of the Russian intelligence services known as GRU and SVR and that they had to leave the country within 48 hours.
The explosion, which took place on October 16, 2014 in a depot in the town of Vrbetice where 50 tons of ammunition was stored, claimed two victims. A new explosion of 13 tons of ammunition took place in the depot on December 3 of the same year.
Hundreds had to be evacuated from nearby villages after those explosions.
“The United States supports its steadfast ally, the Czech Republic,” said Jennifer Bachus, Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Prague. “We appreciate their significant action to charge Russia for its dangerous actions on Czech soil.”
The Czech announcement came two days after the US said it was expelling 10 Russian diplomats and imposing sanctions on a few dozen people and businesses, blaming the Kremlin for meddling in last year’s presidential election and hacking into federal agencies.
Babis said President Milos Zeman, known for his pro-Russian views, has been briefed on the development and has “expressed absolute support for us.”
He said the investigation into the matter is still ongoing, but thanked the country’s security forces for their “professional job”.
The announcement caused a shock nationwide, with the politicians of the ruling parties and the opposition united in condemning the Russian action.
“It’s an act of state terrorism,” said Petr Fiala, the head of the opposition’s Civic Democratic Party.
Jiri Sedivy, former Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Army, said the Czechs must respond “decisively” to the Russian action.
“It was a clear military attack on our sovereign territory,” Sedivy told the Czech public broadcaster.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said her country would respond to the Czech move.
“Prague is well aware of what will follow such tricks,” Zakharova was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.
Hamacek said the case will significantly damage Czech-Russian relations. He said the country’s allies in NATO and the European Union have been briefed on the findings and “we have asked for their support.”
“We are in a similar situation to Britain in the Salisbury poisoning attempt in 2018,” Hamacek said without elaborating.
Britain has ousted dozens of Russian diplomats after Russian agents used a Soviet-era nerve gas to poison a former Russian spy and his daughter who lived in the English city of Salisbury.
At the same time, the organized crime unit of the Czech police on Saturday released photos of two foreign citizens visiting the country, including the Zlin region where Vrbetice is located, between October 11 and October 16 in 2014, asking the public for information. about them.
The two used Russian passports and were identified as Alexander Petrov, 41, and Ruslan Boshirov, 43. Petrov and Boshirov were indicted by Britain in absentia in 2018 for murdering former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with the Soviet Union. nerve agent Novichok.
Czech police said the two men also used passports issued by Moldova for Nicolai Popa and a passport issued by Tajikistan for Ruslan Tabarov.
They said the two also visited the capital Prague and another region in the northeast of the Czech Republic.