On April 17, the Czech Republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats it identified as spies with Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and General Directorate of the Armed Forces (GRU).
The Czech foreign affairs and interior ministries said they found evidence that Russian operatives were behind a 2014 explosion at an ammunition depot in the town of Vrbetice, which killed two people.
Police are hunting two Russians allegedly involved in the blast. They turned out to be none other than Aleksandr Petrov and Ruslan Boshyrov, the intelligence officers wanted by Britain for poisoning former Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury in 2018.
An angry Russia expelled 20 Czech diplomats in a tit-for-tat move on April 18.
The high-profile case triggered an international scandal about Russia’s use of sophisticated chemical weapons to carry out assassinations around the world.
So what is this all about? Could the two greatest Salisbury Cathedral admirers also have orchestrated the 2014 explosions in the Czech Republic and what could this operation have to do with Ukraine?
The Kyiv Post has collected all that is important to know about the new spy spat.
The National Center against Organized Crime (SKPV) is requesting assistance in the search for two persons in connection with the investigation of the circumstances of serious crime. https://t.co/SJ5Opg5gXD#policiepp pic.twitter.com/oACMrPYSbg
— Policie ČR (@PolicieCZ) April 17, 2021
The Czech police tweeted photos of the two suspected Russian agents, with the statement: “The National Center for Combating Organized Crime is requesting assistance in the search for two people in connection with a serious crime.”
What happened in Vrbetice?
Vrbetice is a small town in southeastern Czechia, 270 kilometers from the country’s capital of Prague.
It contains multiple munitions depots rented from the government by private arms companies. On Oct. 16, one of the depots storing nearly 50 tons of munitions blew up, killing two employees. The local authorities had to evacuate hundreds of villagers before the area was deemed safe.
On Dec. 3, there was yet another explosion at a munitions depot nearby. There were no casualties this time, although over 400 local residents had to be evacuated again. The local authorities only finished clearing the area in 2020.
What about Petrov and Boshyrov’s role?
The Czech police said the Salisbury poisoners were seen visiting Prague and the Zlin Region, where Vrbetice is located, in mid-October 2014.
They were using Russian passports identifying them as Aleksandr Petrov and Ruslan Boshyrov, and also a Moldovan passport under the name Nikolai Popa and Tajikistan passport under the name Ruslan Tabarov, respectively.
In fact, investigations by Bellingcat and The Insider following the Salisbury poisoning identified the two as Aleksandr Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, operatives with Russia’s military intelligence service, GRU, which specializes in secret operations outside Russia.
According to the police, the two arrived in Prague on Oct. 13, 2014, and emailed requests to visit the Vrbetice depots. On Oct. 16, the day of the explosion, they left the Czech Republic and got back to Moscow via Austria.
Even though the police have no direct evidence of their immediate involvement in the arms depot explosions, Czech authorities believe the new findings give them every reason to suspect the Russians.
Could this have been an operation against Ukraine?
According to Czech media, the Vrbetice depots were being used by companies exporting weapons to Ukraine, which was fighting an active Russian-led invasion of Donbas.
Police said, the sabotage may have gotten out of hand. The munitions detonated prematurely in Vrbetice, instead of somewhere outside the country, while being transported Ukraine.
This might be the key to explaining Russia’s attention to the depots. Police findings reported by Czech media suggest that shortly before the deadly explosion, the depots were supposed to store munitions belonging to a prominent Bulgarian weapons distributor, who would then deliver them to Ukraine.
Czech media outlet Respekt suggested that the distributor is Yemelyan Gebrev, the head of Bulgarian arms company EMCO. According to numerous media investigations, Gebrev was also a survivor of at least two attempted Novichok assassinations in 2015. Bellingcat found that the GRU operations to poison Gebrev were led by a Russian intelligence officer identified as Sergey Fedotov, the same individual who is believed to have led the Salisbury poisoning attack.
But in a press statement released on April 19, EMCO denied any involvement in the re-export of munitions to Ukraine via the Czech Republic in 2014.
“EMCO has never carried out or planned any transportation of properties stored the mentioned depots neither to Bulgaria nor to any other country,” the company said.
“It should be noted that the transportation of military hardware, especially explosives, is a complicated process that requires long-lasting preparations and extensive paperwork exchange between the country of departure and the country of delivery as well as with transit nations. And the documents archived by EMCO completely refute having even intensions to carry out such transportation between April 2014 and December 2015.”
EMCO also said the Czech investigation did not request any information and that the company is ready to cooperate with the country’s authorities to clarify the case.
The company added the evidence uncovered by police convincingly indicates that the 2014 explosions in Czechia, the poisonings in Bulgaria in 2015 and in the United Kingdom in 2018 had been carried out by Russian secret services.
Ukrainian authorities have offered no reaction to the Czech findings.
„Vrchní představitelé naší země se přátelí s mocností, která prokazatelně vraždí lidi,” protestovali aktivisté před ruskou ambasádou.https://t.co/WZw7myuQ1U
— FORUM 24 (@FORUM_24) April 18, 2021
News publication FORUM 24 tweeted a photo of a Czech protester in front of the Russian embassy, quoting the protesters as saying “the leaders of our country are friends with a power that’s been proven to have killed people.”
What did Russians say?
The scandal triggered an uproar in the central European country.
Overnight on April 18, local activists splashed ketchup on the Russian embassy building in a move that symbolizes the blood spilled by the GRU bombing in 2014.
The country’s Minister of the Interior, Jan Hamachek, canceled his official visit to Moscow planned for April 19, during which he was expected to discuss the supplies of Russian coronavirus vaccine Sputnik V to the Czech Republic.
Expectedly enough, Russian diplomacy threatened consequences for the Czech “stunt.”
“This hostile move followed a series of anti-Russian acts committed by Czechia over the recent years,” the Russian foreign affairs ministry said on April 18.
“One can’t help notice an American hand. In a bid to please the United States in terms of the recent U.S. sanctions upon Russia, the Czech authorities went above and beyond the orders of their transoceanic masters.”
