RUSSIAN SPIES BEHIND UK POISONINGS ALSO DESTROYED CZECH AMMO DEPOTS
- The explosions near the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice in 2014 killed two workers and caused extensive damage
The same Russian spy unit behind the 2018 Salisbury poisonings was behind two deadly ammunition depot blasts in the Czech Republic, an investigation has found.
The explosions near the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice in 2014 killed two workers and caused extensive damage - four years before an assassination attempt was made against former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in the English town.
Czech authorities announced back in 2021 that they had received evidence of Russian involvement in the explosions and expelled 18 Russian diplomats.
Police in the country said today they have now shelved the investigation - which was being carried out in partnership with British police - involving the Russian secret service, citing Moscow's unwillingness to cooperate.
However, the Czech National Central Office Against Organised Crime (NCOZ) said in its report that 'the police authority considers it proven that the explosions [...] were carried out by members of the Russian military intelligence, the Main Administration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (aka the GRU).'
The unit's motive was to 'prevent the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the areas where the Russian army was conducting its operations,' NCOZ said.
It was reported at the time that the ammo was likely set to be transferred to Ukraine in its battle against pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, or to Syria to assist opposition forces fighting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad - a Russian ally.
The blasts in the NATO-member Czech Republic occurred only months after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in early 2014, sparking anger in the west.
As a result of the explosions, two people died, over one thousand people had to leave their homes, and it took six years for the police to clear the area of ammunition.
Russia has long been suspected of waging a shadow war across Europe with secretive units doing the bidding of the Kremlin.
Czech police said the Vrbetice blasts were 'a part of long-term diversionary operations by the Russian military intelligence on the territory of the EU and Ukraine'.
Czech intelligence and media said the agents were the same ones suspected of poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia in Salisbury, England, in 2018 - Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga.
The pair used the same fake names they later used in the UK in the attack on the Skripals - Ruslan Boshirov [Chepiga] and Alexander Petrov [Miskin].
The Russian operatives operatives belonged to notorious GRU Unit 29155.
While the report did not name Chepiga and Mishkin, their identities were released as being the suspects and reported on by Russian independent news outlet The Insider.
The same publication - along with partners 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel - also found that the unit is likely the cause of Havana Syndrome, the name given to a series of debilitating medical ailments afflicting American intelligence officers and diplomats around the globe that are otherwise unexplained.
NCOZ said it have shelved the case as Russia, which has been leading a full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022, had refused to cooperate while the suspects are safe in Russia.
'It is not possible to gain the necessary information from the Russian Army and Russian secret services and... the police have decided to shelve the case,' a police statement said.
Moscow has refused to allow Mishkin and Chepiga to be quizzed because 'the Czech request could damage the sovereignty, public order and important interests of the Russian Federation'. This means they cannot be official charged in Prague.
The men only became suspects in the Czech Republic after their failed bid to kill Skripal in the UK.
They are now known to have arrived in Prague on October 11, 2014 to stage the ammunition depot explosions.
Chepiga and Mishkin remain wanted in Britain for the murder of local woman Dawn Sturgess - who was poisoned by the military-grade nerve agent Novichok - and the and attempted killing of Skripal and his daughter.
The pair went on Russian state TV in a farcical interview under their assumed names to insist they were tourists visiting Salisbury Cathedral.
Czech intelligence published details of the blasts in 2021, sparking massive mutual expulsion of dozens of diplomats and other embassy staff.
Moscow later labelled the Czech Republic as 'an unfriendly state' that has 'carried out unfriendly actions' against Russia.
Media said the explosions were supposed to have occurred outside the depot to destroy arms owned by a Bulgarian dealer and possibly destined for Ukraine.
An EU and NATO member of 10.9 million people, the Czech Republic has provided substantial humanitarian and military aid to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began.
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