UK supports Czech efforts to expose Russian malign activity
The Foreign Secretary condemns the reckless and dangerous actions of the Russian intelligence services in Czech Republic.
From:
18 April 2021
It has been announced by the Czech authorities that the two GRU Officers that were charged with the attempted murder of the Skripals in Salisbury, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were also behind the deaths of two civilians and an explosion in the Czech town of Vrbetice.
In response, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said:
The UK stands in full support of our Czech allies, who have exposed the lengths that the Russian intelligence services will go to in their attempts to conduct dangerous and malign operations in Europe. This shows a pattern of behaviour by Moscow, following the Novichok attack in Salisbury. My sympathies are with the families of the victims in Vrbetice.
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MOSCOW/PRAGUE (Reuters) -Moscow expelled 20 Czech diplomats on Sunday in a confrontation over Czech allegations that two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind an earlier explosion at a Czech ammunition depot that killed two people.
Prague had on Saturday ordered out 18 Russian diplomats, prompting Russia to vow on Sunday to “force the authors of this provocation to fully understand their responsibility for destroying the foundation of normal ties between our countries”.
Moscow gave the Czech diplomats just a day to leave, while Prague had given the Russians 72 hours.
The Czech Republic said it had informed NATO and European Union allies that it suspected Russia of causing the 2014 blast, and European Union foreign ministers were set to discuss the matter at their meeting on Monday.
EU to Discuss Alleged Russian Link to 2014 Arms Depot Blast in Czech Republic aawsat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aawsat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Czech police hunt men wanted over Salisbury Novichok attack Police in the Czech Republic are hunting two men whose passports match the names of the Russian nationals suspected of the Novichok poisonings in Salisbury. The UK Government said it “stands in full support” with the Czech Republic after authorities published photos of two foreign citizens who visited the country in 2014 and asked the public for any information about them. The two were using Russian passports and were identified as Alexander Petrov, 41, and Ruslan Boshirov, 43. It came as the Czech Republic said it was expelling 18 Russian diplomats who it had identified as spies in a case related to a huge ammunition depot explosion in the town of Vrbetice in 2014.
Russian suspects in Salisbury poisoning linked to blast in Czech Republic
elisfkc2 / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0
The suspects of the 2018 novichok nerve agent poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, England, have been linked to a 2014 blast in the Czech Republic that killed two people.
Czech police said Saturday that they were searching for two men in connection with a serious crime. Czech police released images matching those of the Salisbury suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. UK officials said the men are behind a 2014 explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice.
The Czech police added that the men are known to be carrying various passports, including Russian passports with Petrov and Boshirov’s names.