The mutual expulsion of diplomats from the Czech and Russian embassies is clear evidence that the Czech Republic is actively destroying bilateral relations with Russia, and is doing this systematically and consistently; however, according to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, it is doing it “with passion” and “shame”, while actions of the Czech political establishment reach absurdity.
At the center of the spy scandal is an explosion at an ammunition depot in southeastern Moravia (the village of Vrbetica) in 2014, which allegedly involves the Russian special services, namely, the wanted Russian military intelligence officers Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. This situation immediately gives rise to a number of obvious contradictions: first, the almost complete absence of official materials on the investigation of the incident seven years ago is alarming. Secondly, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this warehouse has been surrendered to private arms companies since 2006 and has not been used by the army, therefore, the version that the explosion was supposed to hinder the supply of weapons to Ukraine, where hostilities were taking place at that time, becomes illogical.
Thirdly, the suspects themselves raise questions – once again the same people known from the Salisbury incident and participation in hostilities in Ukraine, which have been attributed to them by The Insider and Bellingcat – news editions whose journalistic investigations are often exposed as fakes. The regularity of mentioning these people in such operations is undoubtedly a win-win trump card, but it no longer causes fear – only ridicule, even among users of Russian and European social networks.
Finally, it is especially alarming that the disclosure of the Czech incident coincided with the imposition of US sanctions against Russia. The political actions of Czech President Milos Zeman – the readiness to purchase the drug Sputnik V, support for Rosatom’s participation in the tender for the completion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant – testified to a friendly attitude towards the Kremlin, but this would be extremely disadvantageous to the American government. The United States uses smaller European states as an additional instrument of manipulation and pressure on Russia; in the light of recent events, the United States is also beneficial to the Czech Republic as a tool to divert attention from American provocations in Belarus, as stated by the Russian Federation Council. This assumption is confirmed by both the expected support for the actions of the Czech Republic from the American administration, and the rapid response of the State Department, which indicates a high likelihood of preliminary consultations.
Tiberio Graziani, an Italian political expert, Chairman for the Vision & Global Trends International Institute for Global Analyzes, expressed the following point of view in an interview with News Front correspondents:
“During the annual address, Putin had the opportunity to clarify the position of the Kremlin with respect to the recent wave of accusations against the Russian Federation by the US and some countries of the Western camp.
In this regard, it is worth remembering, in fact, that after President Biden’s personal accusations against the President of Russia Putin and the expulsions of Russian diplomats from the USA, some countries of the Atlantic bloc – Great Britain and the Czech Republic – rushed to expel the Russian diplomatic personnel, effectively inaugurating a new offensive strategy against the Russian Federation, what we could define as a kind of diplomatic war.
As for Prague, in particular, this is not an accidental episode, in fact last year the authorities of the of the Europe’s Most Magical City (Prague – ed.) had the brilliant idea of naming after Boris Nemtsov – the Russian opponent, former vice president of Yeltsin, and co-founder of the Union of Right Forces Party – the square in front of the Russian Federation embassy, creating a diplomatic case between the Czech Republic and the Russian Federation”.
The expert drew special attention to the fact that Putin firmly reiterated that he will not allow any country to cross the red line, but he also clearly stated that the Kremlin does not want to interrupt relations with those countries that have expelled its diplomats. In essence, he left the door to dialogue open: an indirect invitation not only to the US but also to some Western countries which, despite pressure from Washington, maintain good relations with Moscow. This invitation should, in my opinion, be grasped in particular by France, Germany and Italy. These three countries, due to the interests they have both with Moscow and with Washington, could operate diplomatically in order to lower the level of misunderstandings between the US and the Russian Federation.
Let’s note one more important point. The Czech report contains a phrase that confirms the lack of substantiated evidence:
“The police, meanwhile, have no direct evidence that both of these people actually physically entered the warehouse, but they consider this possibility as a hypothesis with a high degree of reality”. Thus, an alternative to the famous highly likely is being created, the Czech version of the British scandal with a similar plot and the same persons involved. On the whole, this episode is only a part of the well-oiled line of confrontation between the West and its main opponent – the bloc of countries led by Russia and China.