Russia declares two Czech diplomats persona non grata
Russia told the Czech ambassador to Moscow on Monday it will declare two Czech diplomats persona non grata after Prague expelled two of Russia’s diplomatic staff earlier this month, according to local media.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Czech ambassador earlier on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Czech government ordered two Russian diplomats to leave the country. Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said the nation’s spy agency has discovered that one of them had spread false information about a Russian assassin arriving to allegedly target Czech politicians.
The alleged assassination plot surfaced in April when a magazine reported that Czech intelligence services suspected that a Russian who arrived in Prague on a diplomatic passport was sent to poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and Prague 6 district mayor Ondrej Kolar with a potent toxin.
Moscow has dismissed the allegation as baseless. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ridiculed the claims published in the magazine, saying the notion that Czech authorities spotted a Russian man equipped with ricin and let him through didn’t make sense.