Russia expels two Czech embassy employees

Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry has declared two staff members from the Czech embassy in Moscow persona non grata, and demanded that they and their family members leave Russia before June 17. 

This decision comes as an apparent response to the expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic at the beginning of June. The Russian embassy employees were expelled in connection with a scandal involving threats against several Czech politicians.

At the beginning of April, the Czech investigative weekly Respekt published reports of a Russian citizen arriving in the country on a diplomatic passport, with the intention of carrying out a poisoning plot.

The Czech intelligence services later claimed that this person planned to use the deadly toxin ricin to poison three Czech politicians critical of Russia: Prague Mayor, Zdeněk Hřib, the head of Prague’s sixth district, Ondřej Kolář, and the head of the Řeporyje district, Pavel Novotný. All three politicians were placed under protection. 

Recent diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Prague seem to be driven by memory politics. In particular, the alleged poison plot has been linked to Prague’s decision to dismantle a monument to the Soviet general, Marshal Ivan Konev.