At the same time, Czech police are hunting for two men with Russian passports who were also used by the suspects the assassination attempt on Russian double agent Sergei Skripal i England i 2018.
The two are wanted, suspected of having played a role in the explosion that claimed two lives in an ammunition depot, the unit informs the police for organized crime.
Prime Minister Andrej Babi’s victory Czech intelligence and security services have found clear evidence that agents from Russia’s military intelligence service GRU were involved in the explosions in Vrbetice in 2014.
48 hour deadline
The facility, which went live in 2014, was used by commercial defense suppliers. Hundreds of anti-personnel mines were stored there. The material damage was extensive.
The Czech Republic is pleased to respond to the findings, Prime Minister Babis said on Saturday night.
“18 employees at the Russian embassy must leave our republic within 48 hours,” said Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who is also acting foreign minister.
Czech intelligence has clearly identified the 18 as Russian spies, he added.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis (right) and Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek at a press conference on Saturday.
Photo: MICHAL CIZEK / AFP / NTB
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Russia calls it “trick”
Babis says that on Friday he received the information that will link Russian intelligence to the explosion. Why the investigation has taken so long, he does not explain.
In Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Prague is well aware of what is happening after “such tricks”.
The first explosion occurred on October 16, 2014 in a warehouse in the town of Vrbetice with 50 tons of ammunition, 110 kilometers east of Prague.
On 3 December of the same year, 13 tonnes of ammunition went into the air in the same town.
Clean for two years
Afterwards, several thousand soldiers spent two years unharmed unexploded ordnance to make the area safe.
Babi’s victory President Milos Zeman, who is known for his pro-Russian attitudes, “has expressed absolute support for us”, writes the news agency AP.
Salisbury
The Foreign Minister thinks the Czech Republic is in a situation similar to his in the UK after the poisoning of the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia in Salisbury in 2018.
Hamacek had planned a visit to Moscow on Monday, but the trip was now canceled. He has received strong criticism from both Babis, other government members and the opposition for the planned trip.
In Moscow, he was to talk about the possibility of getting coronary vaccines from Russia.
Vaccine trouble
Babi’s minority government is under pressure due to the lame vaccination process in the Czech Republic. Just six months before the election, the online newspaper Seznam Zpravy revealed that the government has ordered less than half of the vaccines they have the opportunity to obtain through the EU.
On Thursday, the Czech Republic cast neighboring country Poland expelled three Russian diplomats who are blamed for having committed acts that have harmed the country.
At the same time, Poland gave “full support to the decisions the United States has made when it comes to policy towards Russia”, it was stated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.
Russia has responded by expelling three Polish diplomats, reports Reuters.
