DISINFO: The Czech military warehouse explosion was a US provocation

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: The Czech military warehouse explosion was a US provocation

SUMMARY

Washington has become less willing to do anything for the sake of its allies, at a time when it needs more and more of their resources, and is ready to involve them in its adventures through provocations such as in the alleged explosion of a Czech military warehouse by Russian "agents" Petrov and Boshirov.

RESPONSE

An unsubstantiated claim about the explosion of an ammunition depot in the Czech Republic in 2014, attempting to ridicule the revelations about GRU's involvement and deflect the blame from the Russian perpetrators.

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 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 are due to the US involving other countries in its adventures are groundless.

See similar cases that there is no evidence of Moscow's involvement in the 2014 Vrbetice explosion, that allegations of the Russian role in Vrbetice explosion are part of a Russophobic smear campaign, and that Czech allegations against Russia aim to overshadow failed attempt on Lukashenka's life.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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