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A secret service affair strains relations between Russia and the Czech Republic: after 18 Russian diplomats were expelled from the Czech Republic on suspicion of espionage, Moscow reacted on Sunday evening by expelling 20 Czech diplomats.
You have to leave the country by Monday, said the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Prague accuses Moscow of being involved in the explosion of a Czech ammunition dump in 2014.
Moscow summoned the Czech ambassador Vitezslav Pivonka to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Sunday and called the expulsion of the Russian diplomats a "hostile act". Before being called up, the ministry said: "We will take retaliatory measures that will force the perpetrators of this provocation to understand their full responsibility for the destruction of the basis of normal relations between our countries."
The Czech government announced on Saturday that it would expel 18 Russian diplomats because of Moscow's alleged involvement in the explosion.
The employees of the Prague embassy were exposed as agents of the Russian secret services.
In connection with the explosion, there is also a search for two Russians who are believed to be responsible for the attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal in Great Britain.
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Prime Minister Andrej Babis said there was “clear evidence” that members of the Russian military intelligence agency GRU were involved in the explosion at an ammunition dump near the village of Vrbetice, which killed two people.
Search for Skripal agents
The Czech Police Unit Against Organized Crime (NCOZ) said that in connection with the explosion, they were also looking for two suspects whose passports were issued in the name of Alexander Petrov, born in 1979, and Ruslan Boschirov, born in 1978.
They are also being searched for because of the 2018 Skripal poisoning attack in Great Britain.
They are also believed to be GRU agents.
Skripal and his daughter Julia, who were both exposed to the Novichok neurotoxin, survived the attack for which London blames Moscow.
Russia has always denied involvement in the poison attack.
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Babis said the expulsion of the diplomats had the full support of President Milos Zeman.
The left-wing head of state has close ties with Moscow and Beijing.
Zeman had repeatedly criticized the Czech secret service BIS, which had blamed Russian secret services for cyber attacks on the Czech foreign ministry and other targets.
Russia rejects allegations
Moscow suspects Washington's influence behind the expulsion of its diplomats from the Czech Republic.
"In their desire to please the US in the light of the recent US sanctions against Russia, the Czech authorities have outstripped their masters across the pond in this regard," the State Department said.
A few days ago, the US imposed numerous sanctions on Russia for alleged Russian interference in the US presidential election last November and a cyber attack.
The expulsion of ten Russian diplomats from the United States was also announced.
Russia regularly rejects the espionage allegations as part of a US or UK-led "anti-Russia campaign", while experts say that undercover Russian espionage activities in Europe have reached a new high since the Cold War.