PRAGUE, June 9. /TASS/. Secret information leaks from state bodies to the media are a problem that needs to be solved in the Czech Republic, President Milos Zeman’s spokesman Jirzi Ovczaczek told Prague’s Radio Z Monday.
"We have a problem of leaks of information from various [state] authorities to the media," he said. "This problem needs to be sorted out."
Commenting on the expulsion of the two Russian diplomats following the late April publication of fake news about a ‘poison plot’ in the Prague-based Respekt weekly, Zeman’s spokesman said that the publication of secret intelligence made it impossible to "calmly investigate the case."
"We would not have found ourselves in this situation otherwise," he added.
"I would like to underscore that President [Zeman] is fully informed about the entire situation. It appears that the decision [to expel the diplomats] was the only possible one," Ovczaczek emphasized.
On June 5, the Russian Embassy in Prague received a note from the Czech Foreign Ministry, declaring the expulsion of two diplomatic employees. Earlier, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis announced that the two diplomats were declared personae-non-gratae during an emergency press conference.
According to Prime Minster Babis, media reports alleging that a Russian diplomat brought a highly potent toxin known as ricin to Prague in a bid to poison Czech politicians over the dismantling of the memorial to Soviet Marshal Ivan Konev, were complete fabrications. The premier claimed that one of the expelled diplomats deliberately sent out bogus information to the intelligence authorities of an alleged plot against Czech politicians. Babis stressed that this individual’s actions had led to "further complications in Russian-Czech relations."
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that the Prague’s actions would be met with an adequate response and this would be taken into account when Moscow charts its future foreign policy regarding the Czech Republic.