The Czech Republic ordered Russia to withdraw more personnel from its embassy in Prague on Thursday (April 22) as the spat between the two countries intensified.
Last week, Prague expelled 18 people from the Russian embassy. The Czech side said the men were intelligence officers.
The dispute stems from Czech accusations that Russian spies masterminded the 2014 bombing of a Czech arsenal. The Prague side claims the Russian spies who planned the bombing belonged to a special task force that assassinated a double agent in Britain.
Russia denies the allegations and expelled 20 Czech diplomats on April 18.
Newly appointed Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek announced Thursday that the number of Russian personnel in Prague must match the number of Czech personnel in Moscow. This means that by the end of May, about 60 people will have to leave Prague under an expulsion order.
“We will cap the number of diplomats in the Russian embassy in Prague at the current size of our embassy staff in Moscow,” he said. A Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the decision includes diplomats and other personnel.
The Czech Republic ordered more Russian diplomats to leave on 22 May, intensifying a diplomatic row between the two countries over the alleged involvement of Russian agents in the 2014 arsenal bombing in the Czech Republic. Czech Foreign Minister Kulhanek said he would not allow more Russian embassies in the Czech Republic than the country currently has in Moscow.
Earlier this week, Prague urged NATO and other European allies to take retaliatory action against Russia.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Russia would retaliate against the expulsions.
“At this moment, Prague is on the path of damaging relations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at her weekly press conference. “We will respond soon.”
The arsenal explosion was initially thought to be an accident. But Czech investigators recently disclosed that they had discovered an email sent to the Imex Group, which was running the arsenal at the time, before the explosion. The e-mail requested permission for two men to visit the facility. The e-mail was sent to an address purportedly from the Tajik National Guard, but it was later found to be a false address.
Prague said the men used the aliases Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, who belong to Unit 29155 of the Russian General Staff Intelligence Directorate (GRU).
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday expressed support for the Czech Republic’s actions.
He said, “These diplomats have been identified by Czech intelligence as Russian military intelligence agents and the European Union stands in solidarity with the Czech Republic.”
Tensions between Moscow and the West have deepened in recent weeks as Russia has deployed military equipment and tens of thousands of troops along the Ukrainian border. The European Union has called for a de-escalation of tensions.
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