Russian Foreign Ministry announced 20 Czech diplomats persona non grata

"A strong protest was declared to the Ambassador in connection with the unfriendly act of the Czech authorities against the personnel of the Russian diplomatic mission in Prague. Vitezslav Pivonka was informed that 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow were declared persona non grata. They have been ordered to leave the territory of our country by the end of the day on April 19, 2021", - stated in the disseminated message of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry said that the Czech side was required to bring the number of employees of the diplomatic mission in Moscow in the category of those accepted locally to parity with the number of employees of the same category of the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic.

"The Ambassador has been handed a corresponding note", - concluded the Foreign Ministry.

In turn, the head of the International Department of the Presidential Administration of the Czech Republic, Rudolf Jindrak, expressed a lack of understanding why the Russian side sent more diplomats than the Czech side. He specified that now five diplomats remain at the Czech Embassy in Moscow.

"The people who are supposed to leave [Russia] are not agents [of the Czech special services]. They have 24 hours to leave [the Russian Federation], while we [in the case of the employees of the Russian Embassy] have 48 hours”, - Yindrak said.

He clarified that practically all employees of the political department of the embassy should leave Russia.

According to the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic Jan Hamacek, 16 Czech diplomats and four employees of the technical staff of the embassy of the republic are expelled from Russia. A special board of the Czech Air Force will fly behind them. Czech Ambassador Vitezslav Pivonka remains in Moscow.

Let's remind that on Saturday the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrei Babiši Jan Hamacek announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. The Czech side claims that they are "officers of the Russian special services of the SVR and the GRU". This step was taken in connection with the allegedly revealed circumstances of the explosion in Vrbetica in 2014.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed protest to the authorities of the Czech Republic in connection with the decision of Prague and promised to retaliate.

On the eve in the capital of the Czech Republic, seven people stained the walls of the Russian embassy with ketchup.