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April 19, 2021 Russia announced the expulsion of 20 Czech diplomats following yesterday's "unprecedented" decision by Prague to expel 18 Russian diplomats identified as secret agents. Moscow announces that 20 Czech embassy employees have been declared "persona non grata" and must leave the country by midnight on Monday.
The expulsions were unveiled after the Czech ambassador to Moscow, Vitezslav Pivonka, was summoned by the Russian foreign ministry. "Pivonka was told that 20 employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow had been declared 'persona non grata'", the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"They were ordered to leave our country by the end of April 19, 2021," the ministry added, calling the Czech government's decision to expel Russian diplomats a "hostile act". On Saturday, Czech authorities announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats identified by local intelligence as secret agents of the Russian security services SVR and GRU, suspected of being involved in a 2014 explosion. Czech police also said they were looking for two Russians in connection with the explosion that killed two people, and who were carrying passports used by suspects in the attempted poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain in 2018.
Moscow argued that the move carries a "trace" of Washington's involvement. "In their desire to please the United States against the backdrop of the recent US sanctions against Russia, the Czech authorities in this sense have even surpassed their masters on the other side of the pond", the ministry added. This week the US announced sanctions and the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats in retaliation for what Washington said was Kremlin interference in US elections, a massive cyber attack and other hostile activities.