The Czech Republic has expelled 18 Russian embassy staff after it concluded investigation which linked Russian intelligence to the explosion that killed two people.
It had informed NATO and European Union allies about suspected Russian involvement in a 2014 ammunition depot explosion and the matter would be addressed at an E.U. foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, the Czech Republic said on Sunday
According to the Russia’s Interfax news agency report, Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said that Prague’s assertions were absurd and Russia’s response should be proportionate.
Meanwhile, another high-profile official, Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s international affairs committee, said on Saturday that the grounds for the Czech move “do not stand up to criticism,” adding that the Czech Republic follows “the Russophobic course of the United States” by expelling Russian diplomats, Russian state news agency, Tass reported.
The expulsions and allegations come at a time of heightened Russian-Western tensions and have triggered the biggest dispute between the Czechs and Russia since the 1989 end of Communist rule, when Prague was under Moscow’s domination for decades.
Moscow has denied involvement in that incident.
On Sunday, the E.U.’s executive commission confirmed remarks by acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek that the dispute would be addressed during a previously schedule E.U. foreign ministers’ video conference on Monday.
The United States and Britain have expressed full solidarity with the Czech Republic in the dispute with Russia.
In another independent news, Czech police said they are searching for two men in connection with serious criminal activity who were carrying Russian passports in the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, and that the men were in the country in the days leading up to the 2014 explosion.
