Czech Republic Wants $47Mln From Russia Over Ammo Depot Blast - Reports

PRAGUE (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2021) The Czech finance ministry will seek $47 million in damages from Russia over a deadly blast that ripped through an ammunition depot in the town of Vrbetice in 2014, media said.

Finance Minister Alena Schillerova was cited as saying by the public broadcaster Czech tv that a lawsuit against Russia, which has denied its involvement in the blasts, was backed by parliament.

Schillerova said that the ministry would take the legal battle to an international court because criminal litigation would take too long.

The Czech government paid every citizen evacuated during the explosion an equivalent of $146 and spent millions of korunas cleaning the site and testing unexploded ordnances.

Ondrej Benesik, the chair of the parliamentary committee for European affairs, said that $47 million was not the final sum. Those damages could rise after the regional authorities make their claims heard.