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Czech Republic wants no escalation in relations with Russia

Prague alleges Moscow’s involvement in the 2014 explosions at arms depots in Vrbetice; in turn, Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its decisive protest

PRAGUE, April 22. /TASS/. Czech authorities are interested in correct relations with Russia and do not wish for an escalation, Prime Minister Andrej Babis said in the wake of the announcement of staff reduction of the Russian Embassy in Prague.

"We do not want an escalation. Czechia is interested in correct relations with the Russian Federation. We hoped that Russia would have recognized the inadequacy of its reaction [to the initial expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats], but our proposal on how to pacify the situation was left without response," Babis said.

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Czech Republic expels 63 Russian embassy employees

On April 17, Czech authorities announced the expulsion of 18 employees of the Russian embassy in Prague, calling them Russian intelligence officers. Not considering the expelled employees diplomats, Prague called Moscow’s symmetrical response - expulsion of 20 Czech embassy employees - an "inadequate response" and demanded that they were brought back.

The Czech Prime Minister underscored that the actions of the government are agreed with Czech President Milos Zeman.

"Mr. President was informed about our actions. He fully supports us," Babis underscored.

In turn, First Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of the Interior Jan Hamacek stated that the Vrbetice incident is a "huge security challenge for Czechia."

"I am happy that we were able to deal with this problem, the biggest one in this field for the last several decades," he said.

Prague alleges Moscow’s involvement in the 2014 explosions at arms depots in Vrbetice. Russian Foreign Ministry expressed its decisive protest.

Staff parity

During the same press conference, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek announced that the Czech Republic reduces Russian Embassy staff to the number of Czech diplomats in the Moscow Embassy. This process should end before end of May.

Earlier, the Czech government claimed that the Czech Embassy staff is much smaller than that of the Russian mission in Prague. The opposition called on the government to take steps to achieve parity in staff numbers.

According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, the Russian Embassy stuff is currently includes 27 diplomats and 67 technical personnel, while the Czech mission employs five diplomats and 19 technical employees.

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