On Sunday, President Miloš Zeman commented publicly for the first time on last week’s revelations about the Vrbětice explosion. He said that there were two conflicting explanations for the events, and that the explosion could have been caused by staff errors rather than Russian agents. Many in the opposition responded with anger to Zeman’s claims. Photo Credit: President’s spokesman Jiří Ovčáček via Twitter.
Czech Rep., Apr 26 (BD) – The diplomatic rift between the Czech Republic and Russia began last Saturday when Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček (CSSD) announced the findings of Czech intelligence services that agents of Russian military intelligence (GRU) were reasonably suspected to have caused two explosions at munitions depots in Vrbětice in the Zlín region in 2014.
The EU funds that the Czech Republic will have to return on the grounds of the EU audit should come from the Agrofert conglomerate, Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček told journalists on Saturday.
Mr. Hamáček, who heads the junior party in the coalition government, said the Social Democrats would not leave the government over the prime minister’s stated conflict of interest, in view of the complicated situation with the coronavirus pandemic, but he said he did not want taxpayers to have to cover the money that will have to be returned.
The opposition Pirate Party has made a similar demand.
A Seven-Year Fuse Blows Up Czech-Russian Relations
It is hard to know what is most surprising about the fatal depot story: the timing, the scale of the Czech response, or the operation itself. Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS
It can be disconcerting to discover you have been at war for seven years. The Czech government’s announcement that Russia was behind an explosion in an arms depot in 2014 and consequent expulsion of 18 diplomats has not only brough new acrimony to Prague’s relationship with Moscow, it also speaks volumes about the Kremlin’s wider thinking.
The blast and subsequent fire in Depot 16 in Vrbětrice destroyed 50 tonnes of munitions and killed two workers. Originally assumed to have been the result of an accident, at a dramatic weekend press conference, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced that as of Friday, he had received “clear evidence” linking officers from the GRU, Russian military intelligence, was behind it.
Czech morning news in brief: top headlines for April 12, 2021
Czech Foreign Minister dismissed, Prague blaze disrupts morning commute, and Croatia is now dark red on the travel risk map.
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Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček dismissed
Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček (ČSSD) has been dismissed, he confirmed in a statement to ČTK. The minister learned of his dismissal at a Sunday evening meeting with the chairman of the ČSSD and Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček. Petříček did not elaborate on the decision and Deputy PM Hamáček did not respond to a request for comment. According to media speculation, Petříček will be replaced by the current Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek (ČSSD). President Zeman has been seeking a change of foreign minister for a while. Petříček has said the reason Zeman does not want him as minister is because he has pointed to the security risks of the tender for the construction of a new unit in the Dukovany nuclear power p
President Miloš Zeman dismissed Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček from office on Monday. His dismissal came at the request of Social Democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček, who will temporarily take over the portfolio until a successor is found.
Tomás Petříček unsuccessfully challenged Jan Hamáček for the top party post at the Social Democratic Party’s election conference at the weekend. Mr. Petříček said that he considers his dismissal to be a political decision.
Jan Hamáček has offered the post to Petříček’s predecessor Lubomír Zaorálek, who is currently serving as culture minister. The top post at the culture ministry is to be filled by Social Democrat MP Jan Birke, who has confirmed receiving the offer. Mr. Zaorálek is considering the offer.