What Went Wrong in Prague? Only Five Countries Expelled Russian Spies after Vrbětice

Czechia’s Call for EU Support against Russian Hybrid Warfare

10 May 2021

Why did most allies support the Czech Republic only verbally and not expel Russian spies with diplomatic passports after the Vrbětice affair? According to experts and members of the European Parliament, there are multiple reasons.

When Great Britain was shocked in 2018 by the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter using the chemical weapon Novichok, Westminster asked its allies for solidarity support. In the end, nearly 30 countries expelled more than 150 Russian spies with diplomatic passports.

It was the most extensive coordinated action against the agents of Russian secret services in history. It took London 11 days to build such a coalition of countries from the US through Canada, most EU countries to Australia.

The Slovak government of Peter Pellegrini was remarkably the only one in the V4 that did not take part.

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Mirek Tóda

Editor and reporter at the Slovak daily newspaper Denník N.

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