In In the Czech Republic, there were several versions of what caused the explosions in Vrbetice. According to the president, he does not rule out that Russian special services could have been involved in them, but considers it necessary to study all versions
Ammunition depot in Vrbetice
Czech President Milos Zeman said that he has not changed his position on the investigation of the explosions in Vrbetice in 2014 and considers it necessary to consider several versions of what happened. He said this in an interview with CNN Prima News.
“I do not exclude at all that the version about the involvement of Russian agents may be true, I only doubt that it is the only one,” Zeman said.
He explained his position by the fact that earlier there were three different versions of what happened in Vrbetice. First, the investigation of the two explosions led to the conclusion, and this is the first investigative version, that they occurred due to unprofessional handling of ammunition during their unloading, the president recalled. The second version was voiced by the Minister of Justice MariaBeneshova. She said that someone could have arranged the explosions to hide the shortage of stored shells, the president continued. The third version was proposed by a lawyer of the Imex firm, which rented warehouses where the explosions occurred. The lawyer said that the explosion could hide the fact of theft of weapons, Zeman said. “So I say, for God’s sake, study everything,” he said.
In response, the presenter noted that Beneshova has changed her position and now believes that Russia could have been involved in the explosions. “I, unlike Maria Beneshova, have not changed my opinion and have already said why,” Zeman replied. He added that so far there is no evidence that Russian agents entered the territory of the warehouses.
In mid-April, the Czech authorities said that Russian special services could have been involved in the explosions in Vrbetice, and announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. At the same time, the Czech police put on the wanted list the alleged employees of the Main Directorate of the General Staff (former GRU) Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. According to her, in October 2014, they came to the Czech Republic and visited the Zlinsky region, where Vrbetica is located.
In the UK, Petrov and Boshirov were suspected of involvement in the poisoning of former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in 2014. In a joint investigation by The Insider and Bellingcat, it was claimed that the real names of the Russians are Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin. Petrov and Boshirov denied these accusations and said that they visited Salisbury as tourists. The Russian authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in the incident with the Skripals.
The Czech Republic’s accusations against Russia caused a diplomatic scandal. The Russian Foreign Ministry called these accusations absurd and announced the retaliatory expulsion of 20 Czech diplomats. In addition, the government has included the Czech Republic in the list of unfriendly countries, which restricts the republic’s diplomatic missions the opportunity to hire Russians.