"There are still many blank spots": the Czech President commented on the investigation of the Vrbetica bombings

Czech counterintelligence has no evidence that "Russian agents" were in the Vrbetice area in 2014, when there were explosions at an ammunition depot.

This was announced on April 25 by the President of the Republic Milos Zeman, speaking with an emergency appeal on the air of TV Prima and CNN Prima News.

According to him, over the past six years, the Czech Security and Information Service responsible for counterintelligence did not mention the incidents in Vrbetica in their reports (even in their closed part) and did not report the possible involvement of the Russian special services in them.

Zeman explained that such a suspicion was voiced "in recent weeks" (in Prague, Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov are accused of involvement in the explosions).

“The report of the Security and Information Service notes, I emphasize, that there is no evidence and evidence that these two agents were in Vrbetica,” TASS quotes the president of the republic.

The politician clarified that from what was said does not follow the "frivolity" of the suspicion of the involvement of these persons in incidents, as a result of which two citizens of the Czech Republic died and significant damage was caused.

In particular, according to Zeman, it is necessary to answer the question “what did they do here at all” (the Czech authorities claim that the Russians were in the country in October 2014, and they allegedly used Moldovan and Tajik passports).

The president added that, according to one of the hypotheses considered by the police, one of the owners of the IMEX company, which rented warehouses, could have tricked the Russians into them: "This suspicion must either be refuted or confirmed."

“There are still many blank spots in the bombing case.

The police of the Czech Republic and the Prosecutor General's Office, who are conducting this case, enjoy my full confidence, ”Zeman said, adding that following the results of the investigation, the citizens of the country should receive comprehensive information about its results.

The politician urged to wait until the end of the investigation and not to make hasty conclusions, since excessively emotional actions at this stage of the investigation will not bring any benefit.

He also said that two main versions of the explosions at the warehouses in Vrbetica are currently being considered.

“We are working with two versions: that the explosions occurred as a result of careless handling of ammunition, and - the second version - that agents of foreign special services are to blame for this,” Zeman said.

According to him, if suspicions of the alleged involvement of Russian special services in the incidents are confirmed, then Moscow "must pay" for this, for example, by excluding Rosatom from the tender for the construction of a new power unit of the Dukovany NPP (in fact, this was announced on April 19 ).

“If, on the contrary, this suspicion is refuted, then it follows that it was a game of the special services, which could have serious consequences for our domestic political life,” Zeman emphasized.

At the same time, the politician said that the Czech side considers the “Bulgarian trace” to be proven, according to which the detonated ammunition from the warehouses in Vrbetica belonged to an arms dealer (the media mentions the name of Emilian Gebrev) and should have been delivered to Bulgaria.

Answering a journalist's clarifying question about why he remained silent for a week on a high-profile case, the President of the Czech Republic said that it took him time to collect and study all available information about the 2014 explosions and the course of their investigation.

Zeman added that neither he nor his employees had contact with Russian representatives in this case.

Zeman's speech has already been criticized by the head of the Czech Senate Milos Vystrchil, according to whom the information disclosed by the president from the current investigation may complicate it and thereby "endanger the security" of the republic.

• A sapper of the Czech army in the course of demining the area around the exploded ammunition depots

• © www.mocr.army.cz

Commenting on the statement of the President of the Czech Republic, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stressed that Prague had no prerequisites for bringing charges against Moscow in the case of the explosions.

And after a lot of contradictory statements by Czech politicians over the past week, it is worth waiting to see how they react to Zeman's speech.

“Either they allegedly have all the necessary and irrefutable evidence and evidence of the involvement of Russia and Russian representatives, allegedly special services, in the explosions of 2014, then, as it turned out today, the country's leadership does not have any prerequisites to make such statements - let alone proof it was over the past seven years, when the investigation was going on, ”Zakharova said on the air of the Russia 1 TV channel.

The diplomat also called on the Czech authorities to disclose information about which ammunition was stored in warehouses in Vrbetica.

In turn, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev stressed that now in the Czech Republic there are fewer and fewer politicians who take an independent and objective position, and more and more supporters of "transfer of Czech sovereignty outside."

“What Mr. Zeman is now saying is in fact the only possible position, when either the circumstances of what happened in 2014 are really not clear, and then they need to be clarified, or, as a second option, the Czech Republic is simply used in geopolitical interests against Russia are those who more and more take possession of its sovereignty, "said the interlocutor of RT.

He expressed the opinion that "both, if not directly, then indirectly read in Zeman's statement."

“And in this sense, his position, which does not exclude any versions, but which calls on these versions to be thoroughly investigated, can only be welcomed,” the senator said.

According to the chairman of the Federation Council commission on information policy, Alexei Pushkov, the situation around this case has once again demonstrated that in the West, disinformation often determines policy: “Evidence was not presented because it simply did not exist and does not exist.

A propaganda attack was needed - it took place.

In fact, it is a pile of anti-Russian fantasies. "

The Chairman of the State Duma Viacheslav Volodin suggested that in Prague they began to understand: "Having blown up an international scandal from scratch, they suffered first of all themselves."

He explained that the Czech side destroyed the relations that diplomats had been building for years, and the government of the republic, in favor of the political conjuncture, took an anti-Russian position.

“We must pay tribute to Milos Zeman, who, in a difficult situation, when everyone sags under the US position, spoke quite objectively,” Volodin wrote on his Telegram channel.

"The leadership of the Czech government, quite obviously, took a different position ... Without thinking about the citizens of the Czech Republic, about international relations, without reading the reports of their special services, they made statements and made hasty decisions regarding Russian diplomats."

“A strong politician admits his mistakes.

And whether there are such in the leadership of the Czech government, we will find out in the near future, ”he stressed.

Dmitry Novikov, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma's international affairs committee, called the Czech president one of the most experienced politicians in Europe and noted that he was distinguished by "fairly balanced assessments."

“Milos Zeman, unlike many modern European politicians, is not characterized by lightness; he is characterized by thoughtful assessments of all events.

He is not noticed in double-headed populism, in participation in anti-Russian provocations of various kinds.

Therefore, of course, his opinion in this regard deserves the most serious authority, serious respect and absolutely does not disagree simply with sound logic, "the deputy said in a conversation with RT.

In turn, Nikita Danyuk, a member of the Public Chamber, first deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the RUDN University, stressed that Zeman is not the person who can be pressured "in the context of the development of this anti-Russian story."

The interlocutor of RT stated that the current president of the Czech Republic has always been guided by a constructive approach and common sense in building relations with Russia.

“However, as it seems to me, this flywheel is untwisted so much that Zeman will either soon disavow his own words, or these multidirectional statements from the president and the prime minister will continue.

However, the official state line will remain in the positions of prime ministers, and, accordingly, the positions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the corresponding Czech special services, ”the expert suggested.

"Such confusion proves once again that this is a hastily planned information campaign against our country and against Czech national interests, because the Czech Republic is extremely interested in normal relations with Russia," Danyuk summed up.