DISINFO: By promoting unsubstantiated accusations against Russia, Czechia carried out the will of the US
SUMMARY
By promoting unsubstantiated accusations against Russia, the Czech authorities did not act on their own initiative, but carried out the will of the larger geopolitical players.
The Czech Republic has unexpectedly come to the forefront of the news agenda and is trying to dictate some dubious conditions shortly after the US has announced its sanctions against Russia. In this sense, the Czechs are trying to curry favour with their overseas partners in this way.
Such attempts to “curry favour” with the US in connection with Russia should be expected from other smaller European players as well.
RESPONSE
An unsubstantiated claim about the explosion of an ammunition depot in Czechia in 2014, attempting to ridicule the revelations about GRU's involvement.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced on 17 April 2021 that the Czech intelligence services collected evidence demonstrating Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion. More specifically, it implicates Unit 29155, a division of Russia's GRU agency previously linked to "assassination attempts and other subversive actions across Europe." According to Mr Babiš, the first discussions around the GRU’s involvement took place on 7 April 2021.
Prague's findings were independently corroborated in the course of an investigation jointly conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czech Republic). Bellingcat had announced already in 2020 that members of Unit 29155 were present in Czechia during the period when a large arms depot exploded in northern Moravia. In this regard, claims that the current tensions in Czechia-Russia relations have something to do with the US are groundless.
See similar cases that accusations of Russia’s involvement in the Vrbětice bombings are baseless, that there is no evidence of Moscow's involvement in the 2014 Vrbetice explosion, that allegations of a Russian role in the Vrbetice explosion are part of a Russophobic smear campaign, and that Czech allegations against Russia aim to overshadow a failed attempt on Lukashenka's life.