If it weren’t for the Western-controlled BIS, Prague and Moscow are friends, Rossiiskaja gazeta claims
According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the goal of Western intelligence is to take actions that are intended to disrupt the relationship between Moscow and Prague. The Czech Security and Information Service (BIS) complied and pleased them, because it prevented the warming of mutual relations.
The paper mentions that Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček was supposed to discuss the supply of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Moscow this week, which fell through. At the same time, Hamáček himself claims that it was a cover-up maneuver and that he did not actually plan the trip.
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According to the newspaper, BIS even hit two birds with one stone. Due to the explosion in Vrbětice, Rosatom will be excluded from the tender for the expansion of the Dukovany nuclear power plant for safety reasons. He mentions that the American-Canadian firm Westinghouse remained in the game, while omitting the involvement of the South Koreans and the French.
Rossijska gazeta also mentions that BIS has repeatedly pointed out the Russian danger and reported on a record number of Russian spies in Prague. He brings up the dispute between the BIS, which according to the paper is under the influence of the Americans and the British, and Czech President Miloš Zeman. He mentions that Zeman wanted a report from BIS chief Michal Koudelka on Russian activities with the same measure of Russian agents and their Czech contacts, which he was refused. He points out that Zeman refused to appoint Koudelka as a general five times and called BIS a snitch.
Hamáček cleared Russia, then Interfax
The Interfax article is based on the statement of the Minister of the Interior, Jan Hamáček, that according to the investigative version, Russian intelligence planned to detonate the ammunition only after it was transported to Bulgaria. It is assumed that the ammunition was supposed to explode on December 3, when the second explosion occurred in Vrbětice.
Interfax literally writes: “The Czech police are currently leaning towards the version according to which the Russian special services did not deliberately carry out the explosion in the ammunition warehouse in Moravia in 2014, said the head of the Czech Ministry of the Interior, Jan Hamáček.”
The agency adds that if everything had gone according to plan and the first explosion had not occurred, the ammunition would have been in Bulgaria by that time.
If it exploded in Bulgaria, it’s probably fine
At the same time, Interfax does not mention in any way that the bomb planted in the Czech Republic was supposed to explode abroad, it is still a blatant action, a terrorist attack carried out on foreign territory.
A manipulative headline taken out of context nevertheless clears Russia of a secret operation in the Czech Republic. Planting explosives on the territory of the Czech Republic is apparently a banality that is not even worth mentioning.
Hamáček to Vrběticí: Something went wrong with the first explosion, the second went according to plan
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The text further mentions that the ammunition was intended for the Bulgarian arms dealer Emilian Gebrev. Someone tried to poison him in 2015, apparently with novichok, but Gebrev survived. Bulgarian authorities have charged three Russians with the poisoning.
Interfax recalls that the warehouse where the explosion occurred belonged to Gebrev. They claim that the ammunition was supposed to go to Ukraine, but Gebrev insists that he never sold any weapons to Ukraine directly or indirectly after the Russian annexation of Crimea.
The Bulgarian trail: Novichok poisoning
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But it supplies Bulgarian companies with weapons for rebels in Syria via Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia. Gebrev claims his company, Emco, was not involved in the US-funded program, but the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry issued him a permit to export weapons to Azerbaijan shortly before he showed symptoms of poisoning on April 27, investigative group Bellingcat reported on December 11, 2019 .
The explosion was supposed to be related to weapons for Ukraine, the Czechia informs its allies
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The expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats who, according to Prague, worked for Russian intelligence under diplomatic cover is also mentioned.