The Czech Foreign Ministry plans to announce a new expulsion of Russian diplomats. This was announced on Wednesday, April 21, by the Prague edition of Seznam, citing sources from the country’s authorities.
“First of all, President Milos Zeman will appoint a new foreign minister. As soon as (candidate for this post – Ed.) Yakub Kulganek takes over the leadership of the department, it will be reported about further purges in the ranks of (employees – Ed.) Of the Russian embassy. The expulsion should not affect the ambassador himself (Alexander Zmeevsky – Ed.), ”The article says.
On April 17, it became known that the Czech government had made a decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats from the republic. This was stated by the first vice-premier and the head of the country’s Interior Ministry Jan Hamacek.
In turn, Russia on Sunday, April 18, announced the return expulsion of 20 employees of the Czech embassy in the Russian Federation, which was notified by the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Jan Hamacek, commenting on the expulsion of Czech diplomats, said that “the reaction of the Russian side turned out to be stronger than we expected” and that further retaliatory measures from the Czech Republic are under preparation. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova called the actions of the Russian Federation an adequate response to the Czech aggression.