Poland backs Czech decision to expel Russian diplomats

2021-04-18 17:29 update: 2021-04-29, 18:08
Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. Phot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. Phot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Poland fully supports Czech Republic decision to expel Russian diplomats over suspicions that Russian intelligence services were involved in a blast at the Czech arms depot in 2014, Poland's Foreign Ministry has said.

"Allied solidarity and quick action make us strong. Poland fully supports the decisions on the expulsion of the Russians diplomats involved in the explosion in the ammunition depot in 2014," the ministry wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said on Saturday that the country expelled 18 Russian embassy staff who had been identified as officers of Russia’s intelligence services.

According to the Czech security information service BIS, they were involved in an explosion in a military ammunition depot in Vrbietice in the Zlin region in 2014, which killed two people.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that it considered the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats by the Czech Republic as a "provocation" and announced it would take retaliatory measure. It described the Czech decision as a "hostile step" in which you can also see an "American footprint." (PAP)

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