Czechmate? What’s behind the downward spiral in Czech-Russian relations
A woman holds an EU flag next to police officers during a protest over the Russian intelligence services alleged involvement in an ammunition depot explosion in 2014, outside the Russian Embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 18, 2021. Photo by David W Cerny/Reuters.
Over the past few months, the Czech people have experienced two major events that are transforming their worldview
.
For much of fall 2020 through spring 2021, the country topped the charts of per-capita COVID-19 infections and deaths. Most Czechs were truly shocked to see their nation doing so poorly, having typically been safe from outside threats given the country’s bordering mountains and friendly neighbors. In addition, as a former Soviet satellite, the country was “quarantined” from the world by the Iron Curtain.
UAWire
Monday, May 10, 2021 10:00:18 AM
The Czech Republic will demand at least $48 million in compensation from Russia for the explosions at warehouses in Vrbetica, the country s finance minister, Alena Schillerova, said on Czech television.
She noted that Prague is going to recover the funds in accordance with international law. If we go through, for example, with criminal proceedings to be compensated for damages , it will take a very long time, Schillerova explained.
Earlier, the Czech Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. This decision was made by the Czech authorities after they came to the conclusion that Russian intelligence was involved in the explosion at an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic in 2014.
Spy row revs up Czech-Russian tensions
By Rob Cameron
image captionThe Czechs see the Russian embassy in Prague as suspiciously large
As Europe marks VE Day, relations with one of its liberators, Russia, remain fraught with hostility and mistrust. The Czech Republic has expelled dozens of diplomats, amid claims that Moscow was behind a deadly sabotage operation.
The annual commemoration here to remember 140,000 Soviet troops who died liberating Czechoslovakia from Nazi Germany in 1945 is always a flashpoint between pro- and anti-Moscow camps.
But this year the atmosphere was even more charged, after the Czech government publicly blamed Russia s GRU military intelligence for two explosions at a remote weapons dump in 2014, in which a pair of Czech employees were killed.