Czech police said Saturday they were looking for two men “in connection with the investigation” of a 2014 explosion in a munitions depot in Vrbetice, which released images of Salisbury suspects Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
Police added that the men are known to carry several passports, including Russian passports bearing the names of Petrov and Boshirov.
Police say the men were in the Czech Republic between October 11 and October 16, 2014, adding that they also carried passports from Moldova and Tajikistan, under the names Nicolai Popa and Ruslan Tabarov respectively.
Shortly before the announcement, the Czech Republic said it will expel 18 workers from the Russian embassy in Prague in connection with the 2014 explosion, which caused massive financial and environmental damage.
“As Minister of Foreign Affairs, I decided to expel all employees of the Russian Embassy who were clearly identified by our security services as officers of the Russian intelligence services, SVR and GRU,” Acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said at the time.
Russian intelligence service
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said Saturday, “There is reasonable suspicion that officers of the Russian intelligence services GRU, Unit 29155 were in connection with the explosion of an ammunition depots in Vrbetice in the year 2014.”
He added that the explosion “caused massive property damage, serious threats and disruption to people’s lives, but most importantly, it killed two of our citizens, two unexpected and innocent fathers.”
Babiš said he had informed Charles Michel, President of the European Council, about the investigation into the explosion. According to a tweet sent by Hamacek early Sunday on Sunday, the Czech Republic will discuss the explosion with NATO and the European Union allies on Monday.
Hamacek would travel to Moscow in the coming days to discuss the possibility of the Czech Republic getting Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine. The trip has been canceled because he “would be needed at Monday’s government meeting,” he said.
Following that announcement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian state news agency TASS, “Prague is well aware of what will follow after such tricks.”
In a tweet sent on Sunday, Deputy Head of Mission at the US Embassy in Prague Jennifer Bachus said: “The United States is behind its steadfast ally, the Czech Republic. We appreciate their important action to impose charges on Russia. for his dangerous actions against the Czech Republic. bottom. “
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the UK “state” and fully supports our Czech allies, who have shown how far Russian intelligence will go in their efforts to conduct dangerous and malicious operations in Europe. “
He added that it “showed a pattern of Moscow behavior after the Novichok attack in Salisbury”.
CNN’s Tara John, Tomas Etzler, Anna Chernova, Sharon Braithwaite and Arnaud Siad contributed to this report.