Czech diplomats expelled from Moscow land in Prague after tit-for-tat expulsions over espionage row

  • Czech diplomats expelled from Moscow landed in Prague on Monday with their families
  • Eighteen Russian diplomats expelled from Prague also left for Moscow on Monday
  • The tit-for-tat expulsions come after Czechia raised suspicions that Russian intelligence was involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in 2014
  • Also on Monday, the country said it would no longer consider buying Russia's Sputnik V vaccine
  • It also said it said it would eliminate Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom from a multi-billion-euro tender to build a new nuclear plant unit  

Diplomats expelled from the Czech embassy in Moscow have arrived in Prague after being caught up in a row between Russia and their homeland.

Most of the 20 diplomats and their families disembarked at the Vaclav Havel Airport on Monday evening after being expelled from Moscow. Others had left by car.

The move followed a decision by Czech authorities to expel 18 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Prague over suspicions that Russian intelligence was involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in October and December 2014.

Russia denies the accusation. 

The Russian diplomats, identified by Czech intelligence as spies, left Prague for Moscow on Monday.

Diplomats expelled from the Czech embassy in Moscow have arrived in Prague after being caught up in a row between Russia and their homeland

Diplomats expelled from the Czech embassy in Moscow have arrived in Prague after being caught up in a row between Russia and their homeland

Most of the 20 diplomats and their families disembarked at the Vaclav Havel Airport on Monday evening after being expelled from Moscow. Others had left by car

Most of the 20 diplomats and their families disembarked at the Vaclav Havel Airport on Monday evening after being expelled from Moscow. Others had left by car

The move followed a decision by Czech authorities to expel 18 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Prague over suspicions that Russian intelligence was involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in October and December 2014. Russia denies the accusation

The move followed a decision by Czech authorities to expel 18 diplomats from the Russian embassy in Prague over suspicions that Russian intelligence was involved in explosions at an ammunition depot in October and December 2014. Russia denies the accusation

The European Union deplored Russia's tit-for-tat expulsion, saying it stood in full solidarity with Czechia, also known as the Czech Republic. 

'The European Union is deeply concerned about the repeating negative pattern of dangerous malign behaviour by Russia in Europe,' the European Commission said in a statement late on Monday. 

'Russia must stop with these activities, which violate well-established international principles and norms and threaten stability in Europe.'

Prior to the statement, acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said he had asked fellow EU foreign ministers for 'an expression of solidarity' at a video conference on Monday.  

Citing an intelligence report, the Czech government has said Russia's military secret service GRU orchestrated a 2014 explosion that killed two people, followed by another one the same year.

The European Union deplored Russia's tit-for-tat expulsion, saying it stood in full solidarity with Czechia, also known as the Czech Republic. Pictured: A girl looks out from the window of a plane carrying expelled diplomats from the Czech embassy in Moscow

The European Union deplored Russia's tit-for-tat expulsion, saying it stood in full solidarity with Czechia, also known as the Czech Republic. Pictured: A girl looks out from the window of a plane carrying expelled diplomats from the Czech embassy in Moscow

Czech police are seeking two men in connection with the blast, who British authorities also identified as suspects in the 2018 poisoning with the nerve agent Novichok of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

The Kremlin has dubbed the expulsion of its diplomats 'provocative and unfriendly'. 

Also on Monday the Czech government said it would eliminate Russia's Rosatom from a multi-billion-euro tender to build a new nuclear plant unit and would no longer consider buying Sputnik V vaccines. 

Russian atomic energy agency Rosatom will not be addressed to submit documents for security assessment,' Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlicek told reporters.

The decision leaves France's EdF, South Korea's KHNP and US-based Westinghouse in play for a contract to build the new unit at the southern Dukovany plant by 2036.

As well as ruling Rosatom out of the nuclear tender, Hamacek said the Czech Republic would no longer consider buying the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19.

'The only way now is to rely on vaccines that have been approved by the European Medicines Agency,' Hamacek said.

On Monday, acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said he had asked fellow EU foreign ministers for 'an expression of solidarity' at a video conference

On Monday, acting Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said he had asked fellow EU foreign ministers for 'an expression of solidarity' at a video conference

The 20 Russian diplomats, identified by Czech intelligence as spies, left Prague for Moscow on Monday

The 20 Russian diplomats, identified by Czech intelligence as spies, left Prague for Moscow on Monday

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the 2014 explosion at an ammunition depot near the eastern village of Vrbetice was not an act of state terrorism as it targeted goods owned by a Bulgarian arms dealer.

'He probably sold these arms to entities fighting against Russia,' Babis told reporters.

'But there's no way we could tolerate GRU agents carrying out such operations here,' he added.

The attack happened in the same year that Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and a conflict broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in the east of the country.

Babis said the attack was 'fumbled' as the military material was probably meant to explode on its way to Bulgaria and not on Czech territory.

People gather outside the Russian embassy in Prague on Monday to protest the country's alleged interference in Czechia

People gather outside the Russian embassy in Prague on Monday to protest the country's alleged interference in Czechia

Citing an intelligence report, the Czech government has said Russia's military secret service GRU orchestrated a 2014 explosion that killed two people, followed by another one the same year. Pictured: Police officers stand guard as people protest outside the Russian embassy in Prague on Monday

Citing an intelligence report, the Czech government has said Russia's military secret service GRU orchestrated a 2014 explosion that killed two people, followed by another one the same year. Pictured: Police officers stand guard as people protest outside the Russian embassy in Prague on Monday

The two Russians allegedly behind the explosion were identified as Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepigov based on video footage from the site and photos published after the Skripal attack.

Top Czech prosecutor Pavel Zeman said the two had arrived in the Czech Republic several days before the first blast, presenting themselves as arms dealers.

The purported Bulgarian client, the Emco company owned by entrepreneur Emilian Gebrev, said it had not planned any transport of arms from the depot 'in the months before, during and at least a year after the explosions, neither to Bulgaria nor to any third country'.

Gebrev himself was the victim of a poisoning in 2015 in the Bulgarian capital Sofia and an investigation for attempted murder is ongoing.

Gebrev has said that he believes he, his son and an executive from Emco were all targeted with a Novichok-related substance.