Five GRU agents detained in the Czech Republic

On the night of April 21, the National Headquarters Against Organized Crime of the Criminal Police and Investigation Service conducted a large-scale special operation to detain more than five GRU agents suspected of organizing trips of Czech citizens to Ukraine to "fight on the side of pro-Russian separatists".

Hundreds of Czech police officers took part in the special operation, according to the Czech edition Aktuálně.cz.

According to preliminary data, the trips were funded by representatives of the GRU from the Russian embassy in Prague.

National Headquarters Against Organized Crime of the Criminal Police and Investigation Service denies any connection between the detention and the charges of the Vrbetica bombing. Earlier, we will remind, the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Andrey Babis refused to consider the explosion at a warehouse in Vrbetica an act of state terrorism on the part of Russia.

Earlier, we will remind, it became known about the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats. The Czech side claims that they are "officers of the Russian special services of the SVR (Russia's foreign intelligence service) and the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate)". This step was taken in connection with the allegedly revealed circumstances of the explosion in Vrbetica in 2014. Czech Prosecutor General Pavel Zeman noted that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected in Great Britain of poisoning the former GRU officer Sergei Skripal, are behind the events.

In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry recognized 20 Czech diplomats as persona non grata.