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Czech PM calls on EU member states to consider expelling Russian diplomats

Czech PM Andrej Babiš called on the EU member states to consider expelling at least one Russian diplomat each in a show of solidarity with his country.

This comes a day after the PM reported to the European Council that Russian operatives might have been behind the 2014 Vrbietice blast.

According to PM Babiš, the matter was subject to a long discussion held by, among others, French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Czech PM did not reveal the said politicians’ stance on the matter.

The statement comes on the sidelines of the informal EU Social Summit taking place in Porto, Portugal. The discussion revolving around the EU’s relations with Russia is to be held during the European Council’s prospective meeting at the end of May.

Besides the calls for expelling Russian diplomats, Mr Babiš appealed to the European Council to consider adopting a written declaration that would condemn Russia.

“We must always take it into account that when one member state finds itself under attack, what we are actually dealing with is an attack on all of the [EU member] states. I have also asked [EU member states] to continue considering the expulsion of at least one [Russian] diplomat,” said the PM as quoted by the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

The Russian-Czech diplomatic conflict over the 2014 Vrbietice blasts burst out on April 17, when the Czech government announced that it had had very grave suspicions that Russian GRU military secret services were embroiled in the 2014 explosion of a munition dump in the town of Vrbietice. The blast resulted in two Czech fatalities.

The diplomatic conflict shook the political spheres in the Czech Republic and prompted the country’s Interior Minister and acting FM Jan Hamáček to cancel a scheduled visit to Moscow and thus sunk his agenda featuring a discussion of a deal to purchase the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

The issue snowballed and metastasised into a tit-for-tat series of mutual expulsions of diplomats. Prague removed 18 Russian diplomats, Moscow expelled 20 Czech counterparts.
In a gesture of solidarity, Slovakia, the Baltic States, and Romania also expelled a number of Russian diplomats.

The Czech opposition including the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) leader Petr Fiala, dubbed Putin’s actions “Russian state terrorism.” For his part, PM Babiš announced he would discuss how to proceed against Russia with EU and NATO officials.

Meanwhile, Jakub Janda of the European Values Center for Security Policy, a Prague-based think tank, told “Deutsche Welle” the bombings mark the “most hostile attack on Czech territory since the Soviet invasion of 1968.”

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