Russia, Czech Republic Expel Dozens Of Diplomats

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Russia expelled 20 Czech diplomats after the Czech Republic ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave on Saturday.

The tensions between Moscow and the Czech Republic, a NATO alliance ally, came amid broader diplomatic standoffs resembling the Cold War era as East-West tensions rose.

A day earlier, Russia expelled 10 U.S. diplomats and blacklisted eight top American officials in retaliation for sanctions imposed by the US for suspected Russian interference in the elections and cyber-attacks. Those banned Friday from entering Russia include the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney general.

The list also includes U.S. officials who have left the government – former President Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, and former director of Central Intelligence, R. James Woolsey, who served in the Clinton administration.

Back in Prague, Czech authorities said the expelled Russian diplomats were Russian intelligence agents, charges Moscow denies. They are suspected of an explosion at an arms depot in 2014, which killed two people.

European Union foreign ministers were set to discuss the claims about the blast during a meeting on Monday. Moscow, in turn, gave the Czech diplomats a day to leave while the Czech Republic has given the Russians 72 hours.

The Russian Foreign Ministry called the Czech decision “unprecedented” and a “hostile act.” “In their desire to please the United States against the background of recent US sanctions against Russia, Czech authorities in this respect even outdid their masters from across the pond,” said a foreign ministry statement.

Separately Czech police said they were seeking two Russians connected with the blast, with passports used by suspects in the attempted poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018.

The passports bear the names of Alexander Petrov, born in 1979, and Ruslan Boshirov, born in 1978, officials said. Czech authorities say the diplomats are believed to be intelligence operatives, claims the Russians have classed as unfounded and absurd.

The explosion tore apart an ammunition storage depot in a forest at Vrbětice in the Czech Republic in October 2014.

The tit-for-tat actions also came amid growing global concerns that military tensions between Russia and Ukraine could further escalate. Russia ordered a Ukrainian diplomat to leave the country over the weekend after allegedly receiving classified information from a database of the country’s primary security agency. Ukraine responded by expelling a Russian diplomat.

Alexander Sosonyuk, the Ukrainian consul in St. Petersburg, was detained Friday while meeting with a Russian in which he obtained material from a database of the Federal Security Service, according to the agency.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry later said it had ordered a senior diplomat to leave but didn’t identify the person.

The expulsions underscored escalating tensions over Russia’s military buildup along the border with the eastern Ukraine region under the control of Russia-backed rebels.

Tens of thousands of Russian troops have moved towards the Ukrainian border, and there are reports of numerous ceasefire violations in eastern Ukraine, where a seven-year conflict killed more than 14,000 people.

 

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