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Czech Republic to discuss Vrbetice incident at North Atlantic Council session on Apr 20

The day before, Czech officials accused Russian special services of involvement in the incident

PRAGUE, April 19. /TASS/. Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to NATO Jakub Landovsky said on Sunday that the republic would discuss the 2014 blast at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice at the upcoming session of the North Atlantic Council on Tuesday. The day before, Czech officials accused Russian special services of involvement in the incident.

"The Czech Republic will put this matter [the incident in Vrbetice] up for consideration at the upcoming North Atlantic Council session set to take place on Tuesday," Landovsky said, quoted by Czech Radio.

The representative already informed officials from other NATO states in Brussels of the details of the incident. According to him, they all supported the steps taken by the Czech Republic regarding Russia.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and First Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamacek on Saturday announced the expulsion of 18 employees of the Russian embassy in Prague, who were allegedly "officers of Russian special services." The move came in the context of the newly leveled circumstance of the 2014 blast at the ammunition depot in the village of Vrbetice. According to reports, "officers of Russia’s military intelligence" were allegedly involved in this incident.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed a resolute protest over this step taken "under invented and ungrounded pretexts" and vowed response measures would follow. Twenty employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow were declared personae non gratae in response to the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats from that country, the ministry announced on Sunday.

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