DISINFO: Huge number of weapons was stored in Vrbětice for eight years without any state controls
SUMMARY
The Czech authorities did not know that the army had not been using the Vrbětice ammunition warehouses since 2006 and the Ministry of Defence found private organisations to rent them. A huge number of guns was there for eight years without any control from the authorities.
RESPONSE
The claim is part of an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative surrounding the 2014 fatal explosion at an ammo depot in Vrbetice, Czechia and the suspected role of Russia's GRU agency in the incident.
According to the summary of the CZ Ministry of the Interior from 2014, in which it assessed the explosions and possible misconduct, the companies’ wrongdoings were minor and administrative, and it did not mean that the state was unaware of the weapons present.
The ammunition depots complex in Vrbětice was used by a total of five companies. One of these companies did not hold a firearms license, and therefore the inspection under the Weapons Act was not carried out on it. Nevertheless, it was inspected by the Czech Mining Authority pursuant to the Act on Mining Activities, Explosives and the State Mining Administration and the so-called integrated inspection bodies pursuant to the Act on the Prevention of Serious Accidents. In the case of other companies, the Police Presidium of Czechia (Directorate of the Service for Weapons and Security Material) was responsible for controlling their activities in accordance with the Weapons Act. The inspection of warehouses in the area by the police has taken place in at least two cases between 2011 and 2014.