US has praised the Czechs for revelations about Russia’s GRU

By TOC

WASHINGTON, (BM) – The United States has praised the Czech Republic for revelations about Russian military intelligence involvement in bombings near Zlin in 2014 and the subsequent persecution of Russian diplomats, and the decision to exclude Moscow from building a new nuclear power plant, learned BulgarianMilitary.com citing Sega.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed the situation between Moscow and Prague in a telephone conversation with Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babish, the State Department’s press service said, quoted by BGNES.

“Secretary Blinken emphasized US solidarity with the Czech Republic in its bold response to the Russian Federation’s subversive and deadly actions on Czech soil. Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Babiš agreed on the need for further unity and determination in response to destabilizing activities of Russia,” the statement said.

“The Czech government’s decisions to exclude the Russian state corporation Rosatom from the candidates for the construction of a new power unit for the Dukovany nuclear power plant and to significantly reduce the presence of Russian intelligence in Prague have increased the security of the Czech Republic and NATO,” he said

At the same time, the deputy head of the Czech Civil Party, Zbinek Stanyura, called on the prime minister to fire Justice Minister Maria Benesova for speaking out about the explosion in Varbetice. In an interview with the online edition novinky.cz on April 29, the Czech Minister of Justice said that there were other versions of the reasons for the incident in the ammunition depots in Varbetice in 2014.

Benesova said she attended a government meeting when the incident was discussed: “My opinion is very similar to that of President Milos Zeman after we received the report from the Information and Security Service (BIS),” the minister said.

According to her, there are other possible versions of the incident in the military warehouses. The Czech Republic blames Russian services and took diplomatic action, expelling 18 employees of the Russian embassy. Earlier, Zeman said there were two possible causes for the blasts – negligence of employees or actions of foreign intelligence services.

According to Stanyura, Beneshova’s statement shows a split in the government, and not all members of the cabinet trust the prime minister. This calls into question the decisions on critical foreign policy issues that concern the security of Czech citizens, so the minister “should be fired,” the Czech news was quoted as saying.

Earlier it became known that Prime Minister Andrei Babish had summoned Beneshova for a conversation to discuss her speech. First Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamacek stressed that government changes should not be rushed on the eve of the elections, which will take place in five months.

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