Czech Republic suspected Russia of spying

The Czech security service suspected three Russian diplomats who had worked in Prague with espionage, Czech media reported, citing sources in the government. Russian authorities do not comment on the message.

According to these data, the two suspects are permanent employees of the Russian embassy in Prague, and the third was temporarily seconded to him, although he constantly works in the Russian diplomatic mission in another country.

According to the Czech media, all three have already left the Czech Republic.

According to local media, in order to avoid an escalation of the conflict, the Czech authorities did not send Russian diplomats out of the country, but simply did not extend their permission to stay in the country.

Czech Republican Radio reported that Russia, in response, banned the presence of an employee of the Czech Embassy in Moscow on its territory, and also refused to accredit another diplomat.

No comments

Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek refused to comment on this information, but stated that “in the history of relations with the Russian Federation, such incidents have already happened several times.”

The Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia also refrained from commenting on this issue.

“We do not comment on these reports,” Sergei Ivanov, head of the SVR press bureau, told Interfax.

Ex-director of the FSB, and now a member of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption Nikolai Kovalev said that the situation with the alleged exposure of Russian spies may be related to the political situation in the world.

“This is a response to the political situation in the world and to the position of the European Union, Americans and Canadians,” Kovalev said.

At the end of October 2014, Reuters reported that Czech counterintelligence had discovered an “extremely high” number of spies among the staff of the Russian embassy. The agency did not provide exact figures on the number of people suspected of having connections with the intelligence services.

In 2006, the Czech counterintelligence also announced the discovery of a Russian spy. He allegedly tried to gain access to secret NATO documents. The scout was offered to leave the country and banned permanently from entering the Czech Republic.

Reports of the detention of suspected espionage appear fairly regularly. In October last year, the Polish secret services detained a high-ranking officer on suspicion of spying on foreign intelligence. According to some reports, it could have been a spy for Russia.

In January, the US authorities announced the exposure of the Russian spy network. On suspicion of espionage, a Russian citizen, Vnesheconombank representative Yevgeny Buryakov was detained. Two more people were also accused of espionage, but, according to representatives of the prosecution, they enjoyed diplomatic immunity and at that time were no longer in the United States.

In January, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded the release of the detained Buryakov and an end to “the series of provocations against Russian representatives unleashed by the US intelligence services.”