Salisbury poisoning suspects 'linked to Czech blast'

Two Russian men suspected of carrying out the 2018 Salisbury poisonings are being linked to an explosion at an arms depot in the Czech Republic.

Evidence links the 2014 explosion, and an attempted poisoning in Bulgaria, to a unit of Russian military intelligence the GRU - the BBC has learnt.

European intelligence agencies believe the GRU’s Unit 29155 is tasked with sabotage, subversion and assassination.

The Russian government said the claims were unfounded and absurd.

Czech authorities say they are expelling 18 Russian diplomats believed to be intelligence operatives in retaliation for the explosion, which killed two people. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the country had to react to revelations tying the blast to the GRU.

The country will inform Nato and European Union allies about its suspicions, and will discuss the matter at an EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, its acting Foreign Minister Jan Hamacek said.

The Russian foreign ministry said it would “take retaliatory measures that will force the authors of this provocation to fully understand their responsibility for destroying the foundation of normal ties between our countries”.

A huge explosion tore apart an ammunitions storage depot in a forest in the Czech Republic on 16 October 2014.

Windows in nearby buildings were blown out and local schools were evacuated as emergency vehicles rushed to the scene. The remains of two men - aged 56 and 69 - who worked at the site were found more than a month later. The blast was assumed to have been an accident.

But painstaking detective work by Czech authorities has pointed the finger at Moscow and Unit 29155 of the GRU.

In the wake of the Salisbury poisoning, European security services have been investigating a series of previously unexplained events.