The Czech Republic on Saturday blamed a series of mysterious explosions in Czech ammunition depots in 2014 on an elite unit of Russia’s military intelligence service – a group that linked Britain to an attack in 2018 on a nerve agent on a former Russian spy in Salisbury, England.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis told a news conference in Prague that his government was responding by expelling 18 Russian diplomats, whom he had identified as spies. He said there was ‘clear evidence’, gathered by the Czech intelligence and security services, that there was a reasonable suspicion that the Russian group, known as Unit 29155, was involved in the explosions at the end of 2014, which included two Czech killed.
The announcement highlights the breadth of Russia’s efforts to expand its influence and pursue aggressive actions around the world, including military operations, assassinations and cyber attacks.
The Russian elite unit has been operating for at least a decade, focusing on undermining, sabotage and assassination outside Russia’s borders. It first came to light after the March 2018 attack in Salisbury, England, on a Russian ex-spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, who used the nerve agent Novichok. Both became seriously ill but later recovered.
Britain blames the Salisbury attack on Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, and identifies two of its agents, who traveled under false names as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as the main suspects.
While the prime minister was speaking in Prague, the Czech police’s organized crime unit issued its own statement saying two Russian men using the same name were wanted in connection with an unspecified ‘serious crime’ and that it was known. that they were in the Czech Republic from 11 October to 16 October 2014, the date of the first explosion – including the Zlin region, where the ammunition depots exploded.
Czech police also released photos of the two men, which looked like the men shown in photos released by Britain in 2018. Police said the men used at least two different identities and asked that anyone who saw them or knew anything about their movements in the Czech Republic should dial a line.
Mr. Babis, the prime minister, did not directly accuse the two Russians of being involved in the bombing of the weapons depot, but said there was “unequivocal evidence” that agents working for Russian military intelligence was involved.
“The Czech Republic is a sovereign state and must respond accordingly to the unprecedented revelations,” Babis added.
The Czech Republic, a member of NATO, has suspended Russian diplomats in the past but has never ousted as many as Saturday. The evictions took place a few days after Washington suspended ten Russian diplomats for interfering in last year’s US presidential election and hijacking computer systems used by government agencies.
Poland, another member of NATO, has also suspended Russian diplomats in recent days and ordered three to leave on Thursday in what, according to Warsaw, is a gesture of “solidarity” with the United States.
However, the Czech action was worse and extremely comprehensive.
“I am sorry that the Czech – Russian relations will suffer, but the Czech Republic must respond,” Acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said in Prague.
What caused the ammunition explosion, which started in the town of Vlachovice and resumed in December 2014 at a nearby depot, was never fully explained.
They coincide with Ukraine’s efforts to increase its stockpile of weapons from abroad, as it struggled in the summer of 2014 to recover the eastern territory seized by Russian – backed rebels.
The Czech media reports on Saturday also linked the explosions to what they say was possibly a Russian attempt to stop the delivery of Czech-made weapons to the forces fighting in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad, a close ally of Moscow.