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“Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babish said that the explosion was not an act of state terrorism, but an attack on a private arms dealer,” the agency said in a statement.
It also notes that the Czech Attorney General has confirmed that the two men suspected of organizing the blast are the same men identified by the UK as suspected Russian agents responsible for the poisoning of former agent Sergei Scripal and his daughter in Salisbury in 2018.
Czech officials believe the target of the blast was ammunition stored by a Bulgarian arms dealer, Attorney General Pavel Zeman told reporters. According to him, the scenario that the explosion occurred earlier than expected was investigated.
The Czech Republic announced on Saturday that it had decided to expel 18 Russian diplomats, whom Czech intelligence called secret agents of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and the GRU military intelligence agency, and linked the attempt to two lives.
In response to the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats from Prague, Russia declared 20 employees of the Czech embassy in Moscow unsolicited in Russia on Sunday night.
The Kremlin said on Monday that the Czech decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats accused of espionage by Prague was a “provocative and hostile” move.
