The Czech Republic ordered 18 Russian diplomats to leave the country, accusing them of being spies after Czech intelligence linked Russian military agents to a massive ammunition depot explosion in 2014.

Prime Minister Andrej Babis told an emergency press conference on April 17 that the decision to expel the Russians was made on the basis of “unequivocal evidence” provided by investigators from the Czech intelligence and security services.

There is “reasonable suspicion regarding a role of members of Russian military intelligence…in the explosion of the munition depot in Vrbetice in 2014,” Babis said.

The Czech Republic “must react to these unprecedented revelations in a corresponding manner,” Babis said.

Jan Hamacek, the interior minister who is also acting foreign minister, said that the diplomats who had been identified as intelligence operatives had been ordered to leave the Czech Republic within 48 hours.

Hamacek said that the case would be discussed by European Union foreign ministers on April 19.

The October 16, 2014, blast in Vrbetice, in the eastern Zlin region, set off 50 metric tons of stored ammunition. Two months later, another blast of 13 tons of ammunition occurred at the same site. Two people died.

The Czech news magazine Respekt reported that the ammunition and weaponry that was destroyed was intended for Ukraine, which in 2014 was battling Russia-backed fighters in eastern Ukraine. A Bulgarian arms trader named Emilian Gebrev was reportedly the organizer of the arms deal with Ukraine, Respekt said.

Respekt said investigators last year received new information regarding the explosion, and the government’s intelligence committee had discussed the case just two weeks ago.

In his announcement, Babis blamed the blasts on the Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU, and specifically on a secretive unit known as Unit 29155.

That unit has been linked to a series of attempted assassination plots and other sabotage across Europe, including the 2018 poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.

Source – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty