Russia says it will retaliate again if Czech spy row escalates
Czech Republic demands that Russia allow the return of all 20 staff to Moscow by Thursday or face further evictions of its diplomats from Prague; thousands defy Russian ban on pro-navalny rallies
Russia said on Thursday it would retaliate against any new steps taken by the Czech Republic against Russian diplomatic staff as a spy row between the two countries threatened to escalate into a new round of expulsions.
Russia ordered out 20 Czech diplomats on Sunday, ater Prague expelled 18 Russians the day before. On Wednesday the Czech Republic demanded that Moscow allow the return of all 20 staff to Moscow by Thursday or face further evictions of its diplomats from Prague.
The dispute is the sharpest between the two countries since the end of the Communist era in 1989 and comes at a time of acute tensions in Russia’s relations with the West.
In the past week, Moscow has also kicked out diplomats from Bulgaria, Poland and the United States in retaliation for expulsions of its own staff.
The Czechs say the loss of the 20 staff has effectively paralysed the functioning of their Moscow embassy, which is much smaller than the Russian mission in Prague.
Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, accused Czech authorities of staging a “performance” and pledged Moscow would hit back if Prague took any more actions against Russian diplomats.
“If (we are on) the confrontational path chosen by Prague, then there will be an appropriate response,” Zakharova told radio station Govorit Moskva, RIA news agency reported.
Prague expelled the 18 Russians, whom it identified as intelligence officers, ater saying two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind a fatal explosion at a Czech ammunition depot four years earlier.
Russia has denied the accusations, which the Kremlin described as “provocative and unfriendly.” Zakharova said Prague had not supported its accusations of alleged Russian involvement in the blast with any evidence.
Her comments came a day ater she said the Russian foreign ministry would again summon the Czech ambassador on Thursday.
The two suspects named by Prague, known under the aliases Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander
Petrov, are reportedly part of the elite Unit 29155 of Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.
Britain charged them in absentia with attempted murder ater the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with the nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury in 2018.
The Skripals survived, but a member of the public died. The Kremlin denied involvement in the incident.
Police rounded up more than 1,400 protesters on Wednesday as Russians in dozens of cities took part in rallies organised by allies of hunger-striking Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny over his failing health in jail.
His spokeswoman was jailed for 10 days, and another close ally detained, on the same day that President Vladimir Putin delivered a state-of-the-nation speech warning the West not to cross Russia’s “red lines” and pointedly made no mention of Navalny.
“This is one of the last gasps of a free Russia, as many are saying. We came out for Alexei... against a war in Ukraine and the wild propaganda,” said Marina, a student at the Moscow protest.
OVD-INFO, a group that monitors protests and detentions, said 1,496 people had been arrested, including 662 in St. Petersburg and 95 in the Urals city of Ufa.
Protesters in central Moscow chanted, “Freedom to Navalny!” and “Let the doctors in!.”
Navalny’s wife Yulia joined the rally in the capital, where demonstrators chanted her name.
The opposition had hoped the rallies would be the biggest in modern Russian history, and presented them as an atempt to save Navalny’s life by persuading the authorities to allow his own doctors to treat him.
But turnout looked smaller than during protests earlier this year before Navalny was jailed for 2-1/2 years for parole violations related to what he said were politically motivated charges of embezzlement.
Police said 6,000 people protested illegally in Moscow, while Navalny’s Youtube channel said turnout in the capital was up to 10 times higher.