The accusations of the Czech Republic against Russia are unacceptable and provocative. This was announced on Thursday, April 29, by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov on the air of Channel One.
“What the Czechs are doing now, how the Bulgarians are joining them, how the Balts and others are joining them within the framework of this so-called notorious solidarity. We no longer tolerate this. And we clearly demonstrate this. And, as Putin said, it will be so from now on, ”Peskov said.
According to a Kremlin spokesman, Moscow is “quite energetically” responding to the current situation. The Czech Republic and Bulgaria must realize that serious accusations against Russia or any other state cannot be unfounded, otherwise “they are automatically devalued and hit simply at these states themselves,” said the press secretary of the Russian leader.
“This has no basis, this is a lie, and, accordingly, we categorically do not accept such an accusation,” concluded Peskov.
On the eve it became known that in Bulgaria six Russians are suspected of involvement in the explosions at military depots. Three of them were charged with the attempted murder of an arms dealer from Bulgaria, Emilian Gebrev. Bulgaria on April 29 announced the impending expulsion of the Russian diplomat from the country. In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry denied the accusations and promised a response to such actions.
At the same time, the head of the Czech Ministry of Justice, Maria Benešova, said that a third possible version appeared in the case of the explosions in Vrbetica in 2014, but refused to name it.
On April 17, Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis announced the suspicion of the Russian special services of involvement in an explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetica in 2014. On the same day, the Czech Republic decided to expel 18 Russian diplomats.
Moscow, in response to these actions, declared 20 employees of the Czech embassy in the Russian Federation persona non grata. As a result, after a series of mutual expulsions of diplomats, by May 31, seven diplomats, 25 technical staff and 19 people received on the spot will remain in the embassies of the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation.
Also, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Slovakia announced the expulsion of employees of the Russian embassies as a measure of solidarity with the Czech Republic. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry declared seven diplomats of these countries persona non grata, they must leave the Russian Federation within seven days.
About this, Czech President Milos Zeman said that the intelligence report does not contain evidence of the involvement of “Russian agents” in the explosion. He also drew attention to the fact that the Czech counterintelligence, even in the closed part of the reports, had not reported anything about some “Russian agents” for six years. Zeman did not rule out the possibility that the situation around the story with the explosions in the warehouses in Vrbetica could be a game of the special services.