Moscow will respond to the decision of Prague to reduce the staff of the Russian Embassy, the Czech Republic has embarked on the path of destroying relations, said the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova.
Earlier, the head of the Czech Foreign Ministry, Jakub Kulganek, said that since the Russian Federation did not react to the Czech Republic’s demand for the return of 20 deported employees of its embassy to Moscow, the composition of the Russian embassy in Prague would be reduced to the level of the Czech diplomatic mission in Moscow.
“I am asked to comment on their latest decision. Prague has embarked on the path of ruining relations. The answer will not be long in coming”, – Zakharova emphasized at the briefing.
At the end of last week, the Czech authorities accused the Russian special services of involvement in an explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetica in 2014. In this regard, Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats from the country. In response, Moscow declared 20 employees of the Czech diplomatic mission persona non grata.
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that statements about the involvement of Russian special services in the explosion in Vrbetica are absurd, unfounded and far-fetched, and the United States and European countries are behind the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Prague, which are trying to solve their own internal problems in this way.
On Wednesday, the head of the Czech Foreign Ministry, Jakub Kulganek, demanded that Russia return the expelled Czech diplomats to Moscow, threatening otherwise to reduce the number of personnel of the Russian embassy to the same as the Czech one, that is, to five diplomats. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova, in response, suggested that Prague leave ultimatums for communication within NATO and added that “such a tone is unacceptable with Russia”.