Page 3 - Jan Ham News Today

President Miloš Zeman appointed Jakub Kulhánek foreign minister at Prague Castle on Wednesday afternoon.  Mr. Kulhánek, who previously served as deputy interior minister, takes office amid a deepening crisis in Czech-Russian relations over the involvement of the Russian secret service in the deadly 2014 munition blasts at the Vrbětice depot.  His predecessor in office Tomáš Petříček of the Social Democrats was dismissed after making an unsuccessful bid for the party leadership. Party...

Jakub Kulhánek appointed foreign minister

Acting foreign minister Jan Hamáček says discussions about the Czech Republic obtaining the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine are no longer on the table in view of the current situation. Mr. Hamáček told reporters on Monday that the only route for the country was to focus on vaccines that had been approved by the European Medicines Agency. The minister had just last week announced a trip to Moscow, scheduled for Monday, to discuss Sputnik V. He later said this had been a smokescreen intended t...

Russia expels 20 Czech diplomats in tit-for-tat move

Follow RT on Authorities in Prague have said they believe a 2014 blast at an ammunition depot was accidental, but doubled down on previous claims that Russian special services were involved as part of a plot to destroy arms exports to Ukraine. On Sunday, the Ceske Noviny news site reported the comments from Czech interior minister Jan Hamáček, who said that there was still sufficient evidence to claim Moscows spies were behind the incident. However, he is said to have confirmed that p...

Russian Duo Wanted Over Double Agent Poisoning Are Linked to Czech Explosion On 4/18/21 at 9:56 AM EDT Czech Republic officials have linked two Russians, already suspected of poisoning a former double agent in the U.K. in 2018, to a deadly explosion in October 2014. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov have been named by Czech investigators who are looking into the explosion at an ammunition depot that killed two workers. The blast was so strong it blew out windows in nearby buildings and the r...

Hamáček to discuss Russian explosion case with EU foreign ministers

Petříček, fired last Monday, knew about Russian explosion connection

A planned trip to Moscow on Monday by Czech interior minister and acting foreign minister Jan Hamáček will not take place, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš confirmed on Friday evening. The news site iDnes.cz had earlier reported that Mr. Babiš had put the kibosh on the trip, during which Mr. Hamáček was due to discuss possible deliveries of the Russian-made Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V once it wins EU approval. Both the prime minister and members of the opposition had criticised Mr. Hamáček’...

Czech police hunt two men with names matching Skripal suspects News follows announcement of expulsion of 18 Russia diplomats identified as spies linked to 2014 blast that killed two people Czech authorities are searching for two men with the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, which match those used by the two suspects in the attempted Salisbury poisoning of 2018. Photograph: Met police/EPA Czech authorities are searching for two men with the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov,...