– The explosive ordnance had to go to Ukraine
– Prague prosecutes 18 diplomats – Moscow intelligence officers, searches for two with the names of Sergei Skripal’s poisoners
The explosion of a Czech arms depot in 2014 was probably related to Russia’s attempt to thwart a deal by Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev with Ukraine.
This was claimed by a Czech investigative publication, quoted by Free Europe, on the occasion of the revelations made by the Czech authorities on Saturday that Russian spies were involved in the explosion in Varbetice, in which 50 tons of ammunition exploded 7 years ago and killed two people.
According to Respect, weapons were stored in a warehouse near the town of Zlin, which had to be bought “by a well-known Bulgarian arms dealer.” According to the media, it is about Gebrev.
“The shipment was destined for Ukraine, which at the time was practically at war with Russia. If the weapons had been destroyed with the help of an explosive device in the shipment, it would have damaged the image of the trader in the eyes of buyers, “Respect writes. The publication quoted investigators as saying that the explosion should have taken place outside the territory of the Czech Republic, but something went wrong.
According to BBC sources, Emilian Gebrev kept some of his goods in a Czech warehouse. However, the British media indicate that he may have affected the interests of an important Russian competitor related to the GRU.
The Czech special services have definitely established the intervention of Russian military agents in the explosions in the ammunition depot in 2014, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš personally announced on Saturday. In this regard, Prague has decided to expel 18 employees at the Russian embassy in the Czech capital, said Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who is also acting foreign minister. The 18 diplomats, identified as military spies, were ordered to leave the country within 48 hours.
According to Hamachek
expelled
Russians are agents
at two power plants
– The Foreign Intelligence Service (FIA) and the Military Central Intelligence Agency (GRU). “We have good reason to believe that agents of Department 29155 of the GRU were involved in the explosion of ammunition,” Babish said.
It also became clear that two suspects in “serious criminal offenses” are wanted, who hold Russian passports in the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are the main suspects in the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia with a newcomer in 2018. in Salisbury. Czech police have published photos of the same two people who were wanted by the British.
In the fall of 2018, the Bellingket investigative project and the Insider website found that Boshirov’s real name was Anatoly Chepiga and Petrov’s real name was Alexander Mishkin, and that they were GRU officers.
According to the Czech police, the wanted persons were in the Czech Republic between 11 and 16 October 2014 and visited the Zlín region. The explosion in the warehouse took place on October 16. A second warehouse exploded in the same place on December 3, the media recall. Russian agents also used passports in the name of Nikolai Popa of Moldova and Ruslan Tabarov of Tajikistan.
It is assumed that people from the group of agents involved in the explosion and poisoning of Skripal are also connected with the attempted assassination of businessman Emilian Gebrev in Sofia in 2015.
The Czech authorities have said the revelations seriously affect bilateral relations with Russia. “We are in a situation similar to Britain’s after the Salisbury poisoning attempt in 2018,” he said. Foreign Minister Hamachek. He called on the Russian ambassador to appear at the Foreign Ministry in Prague.
“The Czech Republic knows very well what will follow after such tricks,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. An anonymous diplomatic source told Interfax that Prague apparently wanted to close its embassy in Moscow, given that Russia would probably expel 18 Czech diplomats as well.
Due to the scandal, it is possible that the Czech Republic will cut off Russia from the tender for the construction of the Dukovany NPP, said the Czech Minister of Industry Karel Gavlicek. Rosatom is among the contenders to complete the construction. On Friday, it also became known that Hamachek had postponed his visit to Moscow, during which time
had to
negotiates for
deliveries to
Russian vaccine “Sputnik V”
The scandal is part of a series of events last week in which tensions between the West and Russia over its troops on the border with Ukraine are growing. Late last week, the United States imposed sanctions on Moscow, including the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats. In response, Russia imposed sanctions and expelled 10 Americans from the US mission. Almost immediately afterwards, Poland and Russia each declared three diplomats persona non grata.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s consul in St. Petersburg, Alexander Sosonyuk, was detained while receiving classified information from a Russian citizen. Due to his diplomatic status, he was released a few hours later and given three days to leave the country. Subsequently, Kiev expelled a high-ranking Russian diplomat.
All this is happening against the background of the growing concentration of warships around Ukraine. On Saturday, two Russian landing ships from the Northern Fleet and 15 smaller vessels from the Caspian Fleet passed through the Bosphorus and entered the Black Sea. Two more large battleships of the Baltic Fleet are expected to follow.
The United States refused to send its ships to the Black Sea, but the Sunday Times reported that Britain was sending a Type 45 destroyer equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and a Type 23 anti-aircraft missile into the area. submarines.
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