Russia worsens crisis with Eastern Europe over Czech Republic operations: expelled seven diplomats from four countries

Russia announced this Wednesday the the expulsion of seven diplomats from four European Union countries (EU) who recently sacked Russian diplomats in solidarity with the Czech Republic over espionage case.

In two statements, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that three Slovak diplomats, two Lithuanians, one Estonian and one Latvian are due to leave Russia soon and denounced the “False solidarity” with Prague.

Moscow informed the ambassadors of Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia, as well as an official of the Estonian diplomatic mission, of this decision. In these countries, Spies for Russian President Vladimir Putin carried out attacks to harm Ukraine.

The three ambassadors, as well as the charge d’affaires of the Estonian legation, were summoned this Wednesday to the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they were informed of the measure.

Russian foreign ministry accuses Baltic states of following “An openly hostile line” with Russia, in this case showing a “Pseudosolidarity” with Prague.

Moscow further accused Bratislava of “False solidarity with the Czech Republic’s anti-Russian campaign of provocations”.

Last week, the Czech government blamed the Russian secret service for the 2014 explosion at the ammunition depot., in which two people died. Prague expelled 18 Russian diplomats whom it presented as spies.

Moscow responded by asking 20 Czech diplomats leaving their territory, while Slovakia, Romania and the Baltic States announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats in solidarity with Prague.

Putin on Monday called the Czech Republic’s recent accusations “absurd”.

Attempts at sabotage and assassination: Russian operations in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria against Ukraine

New revelations confirm Russian military intelligence maneuvers to undermine Ukraine through sabotage operations in countries such as Czech Republic Yes Bulgaria, part of a larger shot with which Putin seeks to destabilize Europe.

At the center of the Kremlin plans is the russian military intelligence, It’s the Main Intelligence Department of the Russian General Staff (GRU) and more precisely, the Elite unit 29155.

This unit was recently indicted by the Czech government to be behind the explosions, which occurred in 2014, in two munitions depots destined for Ukraine. According to Prague, the sabotage was aimed at weakening Kiev’s response to the insurgency in the eastern Donbass region by Russian-backed separatists.

Now extensive and documented media research Bellingcat, The initiate Yes The respect confirmed the Czech accusation, by testing the links between Russian operations in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria and the conflict in Donbass.

“The 2014 bombings in the Czech Republic were part of a long-term GRU operation aimed at undermining Ukraine’s ability to acquire the arms and ammunition necessary to defend it against Russian troops and militants backed by Russia in the war in eastern Ukraine, ”reads the investigation, published on Monday.

According to Bellingcat, the operation started shortly after July 2014, when the Russian authorities united the various separatist groups active in Donbass under the central control and military supervision of the GRU.

The support indicates the Unit 29155 as the force in charge of the operation, which included the explosions in the warehouses of Czech Republic in 2014 and the attempted murder of Emilian Gebrev, the head of the Bulgarian arms manufacturer EMCO, in 2015. In addition, “with increasing probability”, according to Bellingcat, the Russian unit was also involved in at least one of three explosions at munitions depots in Bulgaria that occurred in 2015.

(With information from AFP and EFE)

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