Czech Republic announces large-scale expulsion of Russian diplomats

On Thursday, April 22, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulganek announced a limit on the number of Russian diplomats in Prague: their number will be brought up to the level of the Czech diplomatic mission in Moscow, that is, up to seven people. Embassy workers have been given until the end of May to leave the country. Earlier, Kulganek threatened to expel about 60 employees of the Russian embassy from the country.

Prague's decision came after Russia refused to return 20 Czech diplomats to Moscow, who were declared persona non grata on April 18. On Wednesday, Kulganek said that Russia's decision to expel 20 diplomats had de facto paralyzed the work of the Czech embassy, ​​and therefore, if Moscow did not agree to cancel it, additional measures would be taken in the Czech Republic. “Our goal is that [the number of employees of the Russian embassy] corresponds to the situation in our embassy in Moscow,” the head of the Czech foreign ministry explained.

According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, since Tuesday, April 20, five diplomats and 19 technical employees have been working at the Czech embassy in Moscow, while the Russian embassy in Prague has 27 and 67, respectively. Thus, potentially another 22 diplomats and 48 technical employees can be expelled from the Czech Republic. On the evening of April 22, Czech television clarified that it was about the departure of 63 employees of the Russian diplomatic mission.

How did the conflict develop?

On April 17, the Czech Republic accused Russia of involvement in explosions at an ammunition depot in southwestern Moravia, which killed people, and expelled 18 Russian diplomats from the country. In addition, Prague announced the exclusion of the state corporation Rosatom from the list of candidates for participation in the tender for the construction of a new power unit of the Dukovany nuclear power plant. Members of the upper house of the Czech parliament (senate) even called on the government to terminate the agreement between the Czech Republic and Russia on friendly relations and cooperation, as well as to reduce the number of employees of the Russian diplomatic mission to one.