Two Russian agents linked to genuine poisoning and deadly explosion, but Europe can do little

Two Russian agents linked to genuine poisoning and deadly explosion, but Europe can do little

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On Saturday, Czech police released images of two men they said were linked to an explosion in which two people were killed in a 2014 detention center in Vrbetice.

A day later, the British Foreign Office said according to Czech authorities, the two men charged with the Skripals’ attempted murder were “also behind the deaths of two civilians and an explosion in the Czech city of Vrbetice.”

A Czech government source with direct knowledge of the investigation said on Monday that police suspect the explosion was premature and not intended to happen in Czech territory.

The source, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation, said the Czech police’s unit for organized crime was conducting an investigation line indicating that the ammunition was intended to explode in Bulgaria after being exported there. It is not clear why the explosion occurred prematurely.

The Czech Republic has said it will expel 18 employees of the Russian embassy in Prague in retaliation for the 2014 explosion, which caused major financial and environmental damage.

Russia responded by expelling 20 diplomats from the Czech embassy in Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday called the Czech Republic’s decision “challenging and unfriendly”.

Russia mocks West

The UK believes the two men suspected of carrying out the Salisbury attack were Russian intelligence officials, first identified by investigative website Bellingcat as Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin.
The Kremlin has dismissed the allegations, and at times has seemed to mock the West over its hysterical ‘Russophobia’. Russian and international media subsequently confirmed the identities of Chepiga and Mishkin in interviews with residents of their hometowns in the north and Far East of Russia.

If it is true that the same two men were behind this explosion, and Moscow’s response to such serious allegations remains similar, it raises serious questions about what Europe can really do to combat Russia’s shameless hostility.

The Skripals were found unconscious on a bench in downtown Salisbury on March 4, 2018; tests showed they were exposed to Novichok, a nerve agent described as one of the deadliest chemical weapons ever made.
Moscow has denied any involvement in the Salisbury incident, and the two men claim they were tourists in the UK. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the two men identified as suspects are “not criminals”.

But even if Putin does not believe they are criminals, there is ample evidence that the two couples are far from innocent tourists who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Back in 2018, the then Prime Minister of Britain, Theresa May, told lawmakers that British authorities believed the two suspects were officers of the Russian military intelligence service, known as the GRU.

“The GRU is a highly disciplined organization with an established commando chain, so it was not a rogue operation,” May said in parliament. “It has almost certainly also been approved outside the GRU at senior level of the Russian state.”

The British Crown Prosecution Service said at the time that it had ‘concluded that there was sufficient evidence to offer a realistic prospect of conviction … [for] conspiracy to kill Sergei Skripal and the attempted murder of Skripal, [and] his daughter Yulia. ‘

Britain’s allies were equally convinced that the two men were working for the Russian government. Former US President Donald Trump has suspended 60 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning. More were expelled from 14 member states of the European Union, Canada and Ukraine.

Cathedral enthusiasts

After the United Kingdom came under aliases and carried out the Salisbury attack, it is thought that ‘Petrov and Boshirov’ escaped to Russia, where they are believed to be protected by the Russian state.

If the British version of events is correct, Russia’s official response to the allegations became more serious once the couple was safely home.

In September 2018, Putin said Russian authorities had identified the pair and found no evidence of criminal activity.

“Of course we looked at what kind of people they are, and we know who they are, we found them,” Putin told an audience during the Eastern Economic Forum in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok.

“There is nothing unusual or criminal, I can assure you,” he insisted, adding: “Let them get to you somewhere in the media.”

Russians accused of Salisbury poisoning were 'as tourists' in the city

The next day, the Kremlin-backed news network RT released an almost mocking interview with the couple, claiming that they were merely in the sports nutrition industry and that the purpose of their 6,000-mile, three-day trip was to to visit Salisbury Cathedral, with its 123-meter tower and famous clock, the ‘first of its kind in the world’.

British authorities refuted the men’s demands, pointing to the timing of CCTV footage that would be extremely unusual for tourists to the country.

The footage showed the men arriving in the UK on March 2nd. On March 3, the day before the attack, they traveled to Salisbury and spent less than two hours in the city. They later claimed that heavy snow had made their tourism plans impossible, although local weather reports and video recordings dispute that.

The next day they returned to Salisbury and arrived in the city at 11.45am; they were seen in the vicinity of Skripal’s house before noon and boarded a train back to London at 13.50. That evening, they went through passport control at Heathrow Airport at 7.30pm before boarding a plane to Moscow.

Just over a month after the RT interview, it was reported that one of the suspects had received a heroic honor from Vladimir Putin.
The official Russian response to Salisbury ranged from abalone claims of Russophobia from diplomats to Putin himself calling Skripal a ‘traitor to the Motherland’ and a ‘villain’.

Lubricate campaign claims

Supporters in the Kremlin are already claiming that the accusations made by Czech officials to the alleged agents Petrov and Boshirov are part of a smear campaign against Russia.

Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian Council on International Affairs, a state-sponsored think tank that now joins official government policy, told the BBC: ‘If you look at the whole Kremlin story, I think they would shut down was a false flag and basically the Czech Republic is trying to do it on the eve of the EU minister to make life more difficult for Moscow. ‘

The meeting he is referring to is a video conference between European foreign ministers scheduled for Monday, at which they are expected to discuss Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, the deteriorating health of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and alleged this latest development in the Czech Republic. .

Russia’s repeated criminal behavior should – at least – on paper – make the expulsion of more diplomats and the prospect of further sanctions a blow to European leaders – especially as US President Joe Biden appears to be in agreement with the EU on punishment. of Russia.

But even if the EU condemns Russia this week for a wide range of issues, it is unlikely the Kremlin will be disturbed by stomping any feet.

After all, if Putin has learned anything over the past few years, it’s the point: No matter how serious the allegations against him – from the help of a Syrian dictator to bomb his own people to the attempted assassination of political opponents – European leaders can not. deny their geography.

Whether it is by providing natural resources or by exploiting Europe from its shortage of vaccines, as long as Russia has something to offer its neighbors in the West, the pragmatic installment will to some extent win the day.

CNN’s Ivana Kottasová contributed to this report.

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