“I can admit that the European Union still has to take care of the situation in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.

The situation is connected with the fact that some private entrepreneurs are involved in the arms trade, storage of weapons, ammunition.

The European Union should nevertheless answer the question that we asked, and which is to what extent the EU controls the fulfillment by its members of obligations under various documents in the field of arms trade, ”Lavrov said during a press conference following talks with the Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.

The Russian minister recalled that "there are plenty of materials in the Western press."

“For example, I just remembered right away that Mr. Gebrev (Emilian Gebrev, owner of the EMKO company. -

RT

) or his employees stated that no anti-personnel mines were stored in warehouses in the Czech Republic, that there were only shells, hulls for anti-personnel mines, "Lavrov said.

At the same time, the same media mentions that “there were several cases when Mr. Gebrev exported these bodies of antipersonnel mines to some country, where these mines received the necessary stuffing promptly,” he added.

The minister admitted that different combinations are possible in this case.

“Knowing how resourceful people are who trade weapons in violation of laws and international conventions, I would still draw the attention of the European Union once again that the information that is available in the media should be taken seriously. is combined with the very same international conventions, treaties that the EU members have unanimously signed, ”Lavrov summed up.

As the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier, Moscow expects explanations from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Ukraine regarding media reports on the storage of anti-personnel mines in warehouses in the Czech Vrbetica, bypassing the Convention on the Banning of Anti-Personnel Mines.

As noted by the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, during the investigation of the explosions in the Czech Republic "a fantastic thing emerged": "The local authorities did not know that since 2006 the ammunition depot has not been used by the army, and the Ministry of Defense is renting out the warehouse premises to private arms companies."

After that, the Czech Ministry of Defense reported that the warehouses did not store weapons prohibited by international agreements.