DISINFO: US is behind the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Czech Republic

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

AI translations:

DISINFO: US is behind the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Czech Republic

SUMMARY

The United States is behind the expulsion of Russian diplomats from Prague, while Czechia and other European countries are trying to cover up their internal problems.

The number of problems that have accumulated in the EU countries and the West, in general, is now more than enough. It is necessary to take some measures of an informational and political nature to cover up these problems. Russia is that tried-and-true instrument, that thesis put into circulation, which is used in such cases.

The United States is undoubtedly behind all these actions. The country that rules everything in NATO, the country that sets the tone for this western mainstream.

RESPONSE

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the loss of sovereignty. Also consistent with the narrative that the US manipulates its European allies in order to carry out anti-Russian policies. Pro-Kremlin outlets often use this disinformation narrative about different countries being under America's thumb - see other examples here.

Czechia is an independent and sovereign country and is not dependent on the United States of America in terms of foreign policymaking.

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."

Prague identified the intelligence officers and demanded they leave the country over links to an explosion at a privately operated arms depot in 2014.

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 have something to do with the US are groundless.

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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