Is spy mania transmitted by airborne droplets? Apparently, yes. By European standards, the distance between Prague and Bratislava is just over 300 km, which is almost a walk. The two capitals seem to have exchanged the virus. Slovakia expels Russian diplomats on suspicion of espionage. And in June, a scandal erupted in the Czech Republic around a wild story about a Russian citizen with a diplomatic passport who allegedly introduced ricin poison into the country. With this substance, he allegedly planned to poison the Czech officials responsible for the demolition of the monument to Marshal Konev.
As a result, the story turned out to be complete, and even an idiotic fiction, which, in general, Czech Prime Minister Babis was forced to admit at his press conference. It was clear from the very beginning. How was it possible to establish the presence of ricin in the luggage of a diplomat, and most importantly, to let him into the country with such an exotic cargo? Babis referred to a denunciation that another embassy employee allegedly dashed off on his colleague and sent it to the Czech special services. This could not have happened by default, because according to Russian law, Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation is treason. The probability that a person who understands this will commit an act for which one can go to places not so distant for many years, completely ruin his career, break his own destiny, not approximately, but with an accuracy of tenths of a percent, is equal to zero.
No sooner had the echo of the Czech scandal reverberated when a Slovakian came to replace it. The story is just as murky, and very likely it will end in the same way. The Slovak Foreign Ministry did not name the reasons for the expulsion and did not comment on its decision in any way, however, the Slovak portal Actuality reported that three Russian diplomats were suspected of working for Russian intelligence under diplomatic cover.
This is due to the old case. In 2019, Chechen refugee Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was killed in Berlin, who, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin, was involved in an explosion in the Moscow metro. Actuality writes that 39-year-old accomplice of the murderer Roman Davydov entered the European Union on a Slovak visa issued by the Consulate General of Slovakia in St. Petersburg. At the same time, in order to obtain a visa, inaccurate data was provided, including the name and address. It is rather difficult, based on the available information, to understand how the employees of the Russian embassy are responsible for the entry into Germany of a certain citizen with a Slovak visa. However, in the story of ricin there were even more fantastic assumptions and circumstances.
Generally speaking, Slovaks should learn a lesson from the experience of brotherly Czech Republic. The infamously bursting ricin case was evidence of the deepest lack of professionalism of the Czech special services. The next step is the Slovak case.
In general, Slovakia is exactly the country that should be the subject of the most active espionage, since, as I believe, it is the European center for scientific and technological achievements in all areas: nuclear and other types of weapons, space research and others.
As for the story with Khangoshvili, so far there are only accusations, but there is no verdict and no evidence of the involvement of Russian special services in his murder. For some reason, the European states do not consider it necessary to observe the principle of the presumption of innocence when it comes to Russia. Everything is clear to them anyway: Russia is spying and sending its agents all over the world to kill someone.
According to obligatory diplomatic rules, the answer will be. This was stated by the chairman of the international affairs committee Leonid Slutsky. According to him, "undoubtedly, such steps darken the background of Russian-Slovak relations and force Moscow to consider the issue of symmetric response measures: the principle of reciprocity has not been canceled in diplomatic practice." There is nothing good in all this. Relations between Prague and Moscow have been seriously damaged due to the demolition of the Konev monument. It seems that there were no such problems with Bratislava, although two years ago the Slovak authorities already expelled the Russian diplomat for the same reasons as now. Perhaps it is worthwhile to cool down a bit and stand aside from the fashionable but absolutely unproductive European trend to blame Russia for all mortal sins and live with fruitless fears of the alleged threats coming from it.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.