The Czech Republic Blames Russia for a 2014 Explosion: How Is It Related to Ukraine?
April 20, 2021
The Czech Republic blames Russia for a 2014 explosion: how is it related to Ukraine? We have prepared a timeline of key events around the issue:
- The Czech Republic recently blamed Russia for having organized a mass explosion at an ammunition depot in the country’s East in 2014;
- Czech police say that Russian GRU officers Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin [previously involved in Skrypals’ poisoning in the UK in 2018]organized the explosion;
- It is possible that they targeted ammunition that was meant to be procured for Ukraine through Bulgarian company Emco, given that back in autumn 2014, the Russian-Ukrainian war was in an active phase;
- Several months later, Emilian Gebrev, Bulgarian arms dealer and owner of the aforementioned company became the target of a chemical attack with Novichok nerve agent;
- Following the above accusations, 18 Russian diplomats were expelled from the Czech Republic;visit of Jan Hamáček, Czech Republic’s Deputy Prime Minister, to Russia has been cancelled. Russian company ROSATOM has been expelled from participation in tender for the construction of a new unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant;
- Ukraine, the US, as well as some other western countries supported actions taken by the Czech Republic, while Russia's foreign ministry called the decision "unprecedented" and a "hostile act".
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