Federation Council is convinced that the United States is behind the escalation of relations between the countries
In launching a campaign against Russia, the Czech Republic is forced to draw attention away from US provocations in Belarus. This was reported to Izvestia by the Council of Federation. Earlier, Prague accused Russian special services of involvement in the 2014 explosion at a weapons depot in Vrbetica. On April 17, it announced the expulsion of 18 employees of the Russian embassy; Moscow responded by declaring 20 employees of the Czech diplomatic office in Russia persona non grata. The republic’s Foreign Ministry did not rule out further action. And despite the fact that the EU countries did not support the sanctions rhetoric at the April 19 summit, according to political analysts polled by Izvestia, everything points to a return of the world to the Cold War. Experts and politicians are convinced: the diplomatic reality is only being aligned with the political one in which the West confronts the PRC and Russia.
Monday, April 19, was supposed to pass under the banner of friendship for Russia and the Czech Republic. Jan Gamachek, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Interior and acting foreign minister of the Czech Republic had planned to visit Moscow to discuss the purchase of the Sputnik V vaccine. Over the weekend, however, the countries showed a kind of reciprocity by expelling embassy staff. Prague sent home 18 diplomats from the Russian diplomatic mission in the Czech Republic while Russia declared 20 staff members of its diplomatic mission in Russia persona non grata. On 19 April, the republic’s Foreign Ministry said that the use of the Russian drug was no longer on the agenda, only if it was approved by the European regulator.
The reason for the strained relations was Prague’s accusation of Russian secret services’ involvement in the 2014 explosion at the Vrbetica arms depot. On 17 April, Jan Gamachek said that the Russian diplomats had been “identified” by the intelligence services as GRU and SVR officers. According to local media, they were planning to prevent the delivery of munitions to Ukraine, where hostilities were taking place at the time.
Recall that in October 2014, 50 tonnes of munitions exploded in Vrebtsitsa. Their shrapnel was scattered within 800 metres of the warehouse building. Two employees of the local company Imex Group, which leased the warehouse from the state-owned company Military Technical Institute, were killed. The entire village was evacuated as a matter of urgency.
On April 18, the Czech prime minister said the government would declassify documents about the bombing on Monday. However, on April 19, Jan Gamachek said Prague does not intend to disclose all the details of the Vrbetica bombing investigation to Moscow. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, pointed out that the Czech statement could be perceived as “proof of lies and fakes. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the United States is behind the Czech media campaign against Russia, which is aimed at concealing a number of problems accumulated in the West. The Federation Council is also inclined to believe that Washington is behind the strained relations between Prague and Moscow.
“The conductor of this campaign to expel diplomats from various European countries sits in Washington. It is worth paying attention to how such scandals come about. Either they are diverting the world’s attention from a more important event, or it is being done out of a sense of solidarity with NATO partners”, – Vladimir Jabarov, first deputy of the Council of Federation Committee on International Policy, told Izvestia.
According to the senator, in this case the catalyst was the information about the attacks on the president of Belarus and his family, prepared by the U.S. intelligence agencies. The politician concluded that the Czech authorities have taken such an initiative in order to distract attention from this and protect their “senior partner”.
In this context, it is curious that the Czech Republic is also wanted by the notorious Russians Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected of poisoning special services officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Jan Gamachek said police knew from the start what the two men linked to the Vrbetica bombing information looked like – they were filmed by video camera, and after Salisbury everything allegedly became clear. Except that for some reason they decided to make this information public this weekend.
The situation in the Czech Republic was one of the topics of the summit of EU foreign ministers on 19 April. Josep Borrell, the association’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said this on the eve of the summit. He also noted that tensions between the European Union and Russia are only growing. As a result of the summit, the EU foreign ministers assured Prague of their support. Nevertheless, Josep Borrell said at a press conference that the European Union was not preparing new sanctions against Russia, even despite concerns about the condition of Alexei Navalny. The Czech foreign minister said in the evening that he had nevertheless called on Britain and other allies to expel Russian diplomats.
A new cold war
Five diplomats remain at the Czech embassy in Russia after the mutual expulsion of staff members. On 19 April, Maria Zakharova said that the Czech embassy would no longer be able to hire Russian citizens. Prague expressed surprise at Moscow’s harsher response. Jan Gamachek noted that Russia had sent the Czech ambassador’s deputy, due to which the work of the diplomatic office is now virtually paralyzed. “Izvestia” sent an enquiry to the Czech Foreign Ministry about the possible dispatch of new employees to Russia, but did not receive a prompt reply.
According to Fyodor Lukyanov, director of the Valdai Discussion Club, the incident between Moscow and Prague signals the return of the Cold War era.
“Over the past 30 years we have grown accustomed to diplomats’ work being extensive, and the opportunities for their cooperation ranging from political and economic to educational to intelligence. Now things have changed. Partnership has been replaced by suspicion and confrontation, and the Cold War has returned in full force. Only the West is now against the Russian Federation and the PRC”, – the political scientist stressed.
Political-economic ties are shrinking and humanitarian-educational ties are perceived as subversive by other countries, he said. The diplomatic reality is being brought in line with the political one and it is likely that in the next historical phase embassies will live under the same conditions as they did in the 1970s-1980s, the expert concluded.
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Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic Jaroslav Golikov has also noted in his conversation with Izvestia that the current situation reminds him of the times of “Iron Curtain”, only for Prague it is vice versa.
“I remember the times of the Iron Curtain, any action of the West in the Czech Republic was perceived as something bad and of the East as something good. Sometimes one gets the impression that nothing has changed, only the sides have changed, although now there are numerous global challenges in the world that require close cooperation between the states”, – the parliamentarian stressed.
He also noted that there are a number of inconsistencies in the story of the explosion in Vrbetica. In his opinion, there is no way two Russian-speaking foreign agents (also with luggage) could have been allowed into the closed territory. Although the parliamentarian does not rule out that the explosion was premeditated, he believes that concrete evidence of the Russian side’s involvement in the incident must be provided.
Former Czech President Vaclav Klaus expressed the opinion that the authorities invented the story about the GRU officers in order to play with voters on the eve of the parliamentary elections.
“Our government and its associated pseudo-opposition understand that scaring people with the coronavirus is impossible indefinitely, so they are desperately looking for another imaginary threat to keep people in fear. They know very well that frightened people are easier to control”, – the former head of state stressed.
Meanwhile, Prague authorities have demanded that Russia return a part of Stromovka Park, which was occupied by the Soviet and then Russian embassies in 1968.
“The city council has called on the Czech government to negotiate to return the area of the Russian embassy to the condition prior to the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in 1968. After 53 years, the occupation of a part of Stromovka by the Russian Federation should end”, – the council said.
On April 19, 18 diplomats left the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic. Along with the Russian staff, their families and children, nine of whom were born in the republic, left.
Maria Vasilieva, Nikolai Pozdnyakov