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20 Czech diplomats have been declared persona non grata, the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry reports. They must leave the country before the end of the day. This step was taken in response to the expulsion from Prague of 18 representatives of the Russian diplomatic mission.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has summoned Czech Ambassador Vitezslav Pivonka. The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed a strong protest over the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic. In response, Prague should equalize the number of embassy staff in Moscow with the number of diplomats in the Russian diplomatic mission, which operates in the Czech capital. The Czech Ambassador received a note to this effect.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova called the decision of the Czech government "caricature". Prague serves the interests of Washington, and the United States uses the "vassalage of the 21st century."
On Saturday, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek announced that 18 Russian embassy officials must leave the country within 48 hours. The decision was made under the mythical pretext that they were allegedly related to the Russian special services. In addition, it was announced in Prague that it was the Russian special services that were involved in the explosion at Czech military depots in 2014.
According to local media reports, the explosion was supposed to interfere with the supply of ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces.
The Czech police also put on the wanted list the Russians Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, whom London considers to be involved in the poisoning of the former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Russkiy Mir
