Czech Minister To Receive Russian Envoy Amid Tension

(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Czech minister to receive Russian envoy amid tension

Prague, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Apr, 2021 ) :The Czech Republic's new foreign minister will on Wednesday meet in Prague with the Russian ambassador, a Czech diplomatic source said, as the government weighed further expulsions of Russian diplomats.

Jakub Kulhanek will receive Russian ambassador Alexander Zmeyevski in the afternoon upon formally taking up his post as foreign minister, the source told AFP, after he was summoned over a 2014 fatal explosion on Czech soil that Prague has blamed on Russian secret services.

Kulhanek had served as deputy to Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, who as acting foreign minister warned Tuesday that Prague may expel Russia's remaining diplomats after having already sent home 18 embassy staff members suspected of being Russian spies.

The Denik N daily on Wednesday identified them as 17 men, including the deputy ambassador, and one woman.

Russia expelled 20 Czechs including the deputy ambassador in retaliation, effectively crippling the much smaller Czech embassy in Moscow.

"I am ready for everything. Even to build relationships from scratch. Which means we would send them all home," Hamacek said.

Czech lawmakers endorsed the move later Tuesday, calling on the government to "reset relationships with the Russian Federation and significantly cut diplomat numbers at the Russian embassy in line with the principle of reciprocity".

Prague accused Russian secret services Saturday of being behind an explosion at an ammunition depot near the eastern village of Vrbetice in 2014 that killed two people.

Czech police are seeking two men in connection with the blast as well as with a second non-fatal explosion nearby later that year.

The men have also been identified as suspects in the 2018 poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.

The Czech attack allegedly targeted ammunition belonging to a Bulgarian arms dealer who probably sold arms to entities fighting against Russia.

The explosion occurred the same year that Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine and a conflict broke out between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed rebels in the east of the country.

Hamacek, the interior minister, had been filling in as foreign minister since the previous top diplomat was sacked last week over an unrelated matter.