Expelled Russian diplomats leave Prague for Moscow
They took an Aeroflot flight
PRAGUE, June 7. /TASS/. Two Russian diplomats who were expelled from the Czech Republic have left Prague, Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaper said on its website on Sunday, citing Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek.
According to Petricek, the Russian diplomats took an Aeroflot flight to Moscow.
On June 5, the Czech Foreign Ministry notified the Russian embassy of Prague’s decision to expel two embassy employees. Before that, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told a news conference that two Russian diplomats had been declared personae non grata. According to him, media reports of a Russian diplomat bringing ricin, a highly potent toxin, into the country, which was allegedly meant for those behind the demolition of the monument to WWII Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague, turned out to be fake. Babis said the ricin scandal followed a false signal from a Russian embassy employee to the Czech counterintelligence services about allegedly plotted attack on Czech officials, raising tensions between the two countries.
The Russian foreign ministry warned Prague that an adequate response would follow and such actions would be taken into account in Russia’s policy towards the Czech Republic.