On Thursday, April 22, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek ordered Russia to remove most of its remaining diplomatic staff from Prague in an escalation of the worst dispute between the two countries in decades, as was reported by Reuters.
A few days earlier, on Saturday, a spy row flared when Prague expelled 18 Russian staff, whom it identified as intelligence officers. According to the Czech Republic, two Russian spies accused of a nerve agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were behind an explosion at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014 that killed two people. Russia denied alCzech accusations, ordering out 20 Czech staff in retaliation on Sunday.
In response, Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek announced a decision that requires Russia to have the same number of envoys as the Czech Republic has in Moscow. It means that the Czech Republic will expel 63 diplomats and workers of the diplomatic mission of the Russian Federation in Prague.
The deadline for the withdrawal of Russia’s diplomats is the end of May.
"The Russian side has not responded until noon. We therefore decided to react as follows: Pursuant to Article 11 of the Vienna Convention, we are capping the number of Russian diplomats in Prague on the current state of our representation in Moscow. This decision is valid from today, Russia has time to withdraw its people until the end of May," Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek stated.
Mr. Kulhanek told that the decision not directed against ordinary Russians who study or work in the Czech Republic. He also added, he does not want to escalate the situation, but it was a necessary measure.
"We will put a ceiling on the number of diplomats at the Russian embassy in Prague at the current level of our embassy in Moscow," Kulhanek said. "I do not want to needlessly escalate...but the Czech Republic is a self-confident country and will act as such. This is not aimed against Russians or the Russian nation, but a reaction to activities of Russian secret services on our territory," he added.