CZECHS BLAME RUSSIA FOR 2014 BLAST, EXPEL 18 EMBASSY STAFFERS

PRAGUE — The Czech government alleged Russia was involved in a deadly blast at a munitions site in 2014 and said Saturday it's expelling 18 embassy staffers, signalling that the country is joining growing international pressure to rein in President Vladimir Putin.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis's unexpected announcement coincides with concern in the U.S. and Europe about Russia's military buildup on the border with Ukraine. Acting Foreign Minister

Jan Hamacek likened the explosion, which killed two people at a private munitions warehouse, to the 2018 poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.

“I'm very saddened that the Czech-Russian relations are going to suffer such significant damage, but the Czech Republic must respond,” Hamacek said Saturday. The Czech government has notified the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, he said. The latest rift signals that relations between the Czech Republic, a member of

NATO and European Union, may be headed toward the lowest point since the end of communist rule.

Czech authorities suspect Russia's GRU intelligence service helped orchestrate the 2014 blast at Vrbetice, Babis said at a briefing. Hamacek said the Russian embassy staff, whom he described as spies, must leave the country within 48 hours.

An employee who answered the switchboard at the Russian Embassy in Prague declined to comment on the Czech allegations.

Relations since the end of communist rule include diplomatic clashes, such as when the Czechs expelled two Russian diplomats last year for fabricating information on an alleged poisoning plot against municipal officials.