Russian ‘Murder Plot’ Strains Czech Diplomatic Ties

The article, referencing intelligence sources and published by the highly regarded Respekt weekly magazine, set off a burst of curt and conflicting statements from Prague and Moscow in a diplomatic dust-up that threatens to escalate. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman dismissed the report as fake, and the foreign ministry in Moscow demanded action. 

The Czech foreign ministry balked at the suggestion it could curtail the free press and confirmed Respekt's story that a Russian diplomat had arrived at Prague airport three weeks earlier to be met by an embassy vehicle. Any other details, the Czech foreign ministry suggested, should be taken up with the secret services.

The Russian embassy retorted that none of its diplomatic staff had "arrived at Prague Airport" since mid-March.

The report remains unconfirmed by Czech security and political bodies. However, one of the alleged targets has sought to corroborate it.

Ondrej Kolar confirmed to BIRN from a secret location that he is under police protection because "Russian representatives are calling for my assassination".

It is not the first time the 36-year-old mayor of the leafy Prague 6 district, which hosts myriad embassies including the giant Russian mission in its impressive fin de siècle villas, has been assigned special protection.

In August last year he and his family received death threats from local extremists when the district council decided to move a statue of Red Army general Ivan Konev.

With the coronavirus lockdown ruling out further protests, the statue was swiftly and suddenly taken down on April 3. The Russian embassy accused Kolar of "mocking the memory" of those who fought against Nazism and promised a reaction.

"I don't know what they...

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