PRAGUE (AP) – The two Russian military agents believed to be behind a massive explosion of the Czech depot in 2014 were likely targeted at the ammunition, not the Czech Republic itself, the country’s prime minister and prosecutor said Monday.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he did not consider the Russian action as “an act of state terrorism” but said “the presence of GRU agents is absolutely unacceptable.”
“We are a sovereign state and it is unacceptable for foreign agents to conduct such operations here,” Babis said.
On Sunday, Russia ordered 20 Czech diplomats to leave the country within a day in response to the Czech government’s expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats that it identified as spies of the GRU and SVR, the Russian military and foreign intelligence services. Both sides sent government planes on Monday to take the envoys and their families home.
Pavel Zeman, the Czech prosecutor, said the targeted ammunition was usually intended to be sent to an arms dealer in Bulgaria and deliberately detonated after delivery. Two people were killed in the explosion of the depot in the town of Vrbetice in 2014.
“The explosion would not take place on the territory of the Czech Republic,” said Zeman.
Zeman said the two Russian suspects used false identities on Tajikistan and Moldova passports when they booked a visit to the depot. They stayed in Prague and the eastern city of Ostrava, about a two-hour drive from the depot in the eastern Czech Republic.
The suspects also used Russian passports to travel to the Czech Republic.
Their names and photos matched two Russians who accused British authorities in absentia in 2018 of attempting to murder former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with Soviet nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury.
“The two were identified as the attackers in Salisbury in 2018,” said Zeman.
Zeman said that because the investigation has not been completed, authorities are unable to reveal more details about the case and rejected Babis’s request to publish it. Babis said his government is considering seeking damages from the Russians.
Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who is also the acting Foreign Minister, said on Monday that the Russian expulsion of Czech diplomats has effectively paralyzed the Czech embassy in Moscow.
“We had to expect this to happen, but the Czech Republic has done nothing wrong,” said Hamacek. “We are victims of the Russian actions.”
Babis said the Czechs will “certainly” respond to what is seen as a disproportionate Russian move.
The Czech government has also decided not to allow the Russian state-controlled nuclear company Rosatom to participate in a tender for the planned construction of a nuclear reactor at its nuclear power plant in Dukovany.
Czech intelligence agencies have repeatedly warned not to allow Russian and Chinese companies to bid for the multi-billion dollar tender because they pose a security risk due to ties to their respective governments.