Thread by @_JakubJanda

DETAILS ON RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE ON THE CZECH SOIL:

Czech Republic is a nest of Russian intelligence agencies, often used against Germany due to geographic proximity.

Here we explain the cases and scope in detailed @_EuropeanValues Report: europeanvalues.cz/en/questions-a…

UPDATE:

Foreign Policy Committee of the Czech Senate asks the Czech government to "decrease number of employees of Russian diplomacy in the Czech Republic to one".

In other words: to expel the whole Russian diplomatic presence and keep just the Russian Ambassador.

I LOVE THIS VIEW:

18 Russian intelligence officers (SVR and GRU) are leaving Czech territory right now.

More coming.

Here is the source:

Monday 19 April:

Czech PM @AndrejBabis: "it was not act of state terrorism (of Russia against the Czech Republic)",calls it "terrorist act of Russian intelligence officers against goods of Bulgarian arms dealer".

Note: PM Babiš is politically dependent on Czech President Zeman.

Thanks to @enkocz & other sources, we now have full names of SVR & GRU officers who were hiding under diplomatic cover in Czech Republic. They were expelled from the Czech soil, left today.

18 expelled, below are already identified names as stated in Czech Diplomatic List:

Mr. Alexander Anatolievich ANTONOV, First Secretary /Political Affairs/

Mr. Alexey Vladimirovich KOLMAKOV, First Secretary

Mr. Evgeny Nikolaevich GOLIKOV, Third Secretary /Political Affairs/

Mr. Andrey Alexandrovich MAKARENKO, First Secretary /Political Affairs/

Mr. Dmitrii Alekseevich MOSKOVKIN, Deputy Commercial Representative

Mr. Anton Anatolievich BELOV, Second Secretary /Administrative and Financial Affairs/

Mr. Maxim Alexandrovich KRAILIN, First Secretary /Polit. Affairs/

Mr. Konstantin Alexandrovich SHEVCHUK, Second Secretary

Mr. Yury Evgenievich EGOROV, Attaché /Political Affairs/

Full details:

denikn.cz/608073/mluvci-…

Here are several profiles and pictures of SVR/GRU officers posing as diplomats on the Czech soil:

evropsky-rozhled.eu/kdo-byl-vyhost…

Here @bellingcat reveals new details:

NEW INFORMATION: Col.Gen Averyanov headed this GRU operation by himself. That shows the strategic importance of the Vrbětice case.

See below for more details:

bellingcat.com/news/2021/04/2…

Here @bellingcat explains that there were multiple preparatory trips of GRU officers:

We now know thanks to @bellingcat that Colone General Averyanov himself was involved. That means strategic level importance.

More details on the GRU staff involved.

Here @bellingcat put together a map of which GRU officers travelled for this Vrbětice operation in 2014:

GRU officers landed in Prague, moved to Ostrava and left for Austria by car after the Vrbětice explosions happened.

Here are the fake documents GRU used.

On GRU staff involved - the most senior operational leader:

(THREAD) HERE ARE OFFICIAL CZECH FOREIGN MINISTRY NUMBER ON RUSSIA-CZECH DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS (AS OF 20 April 2021):

Czech diplomatic personnel on Russian territory before expulsions: 58 (26 diplomats, 32 technical staff)

(Source data: Czech MFA Communications Director)

Russia expelled 20 Czechs (16 diplomats and 4 technical staff) = 34 % of Czech diplomatic personnel was sent home.

Czech diplomatic personnel on Russian territory after expulsions: 38 (10 diplomats, 28 technical staff)

We do not count local staff (Russian citizen working for Czech diplomatic posts on Russian territory), because they do not have diplomatic immunity and cannot be diplomatically expelled from Russian territory.

Russian diplo personnel before expulsions: 129 (48 diplos, 81 tech staff)

Czech Republic expelled 18 SVR + GRU officers (14 diplos and 4 tech staff) = 14 % of Russian diplo personnel in

Russian diplo personnel on CZ territory after expulsions: 111 (34 diplos, 77 tech staff)

AFTER THE GRU ATTACK REVELATIONS, HERE IS WHAT HAPPENED (@_EuropeanValues did the following math):

Czechia has expelled 14 % of Russian diplomatic staff from its territory (18 of 129), in response Russia has expelled 34 % of Czech diplo staff from its territory (20 of 58).

TOTAL NUMBER: Russia now has 2,9x more individuals (111 to 38) with diplomatic immunity in Czechia than Czech Republic has in Russia. Before this, it was 2,2x more (129 to 58), so the disparity increased.

DIPLOMATS: Russia now has 3,4x more diplomats (34 to 10) in Czechia than Czech Republic has in Russia. Before this, it was 1,8x more (48 to 26), so the disparity almost doubled.

TECHNICAL STAFF WITH DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY: Russia now has 2,8x more tech staff (with diplo immunity - 77 to 28) in Czechia than Czechia has in Russia. Before this, it was 2,5x more (81 to 32), so the disparity increased.

Russia now has three-times larger diplo presence in CZ.

In Slovakia, more reaction expected:

spectator.sme.sk/c/22642043/rus…

BREAKING:

Early this morning, Czech Police arrested 10+ Czech citizen who were working under command of GRU, many of them travelled to Donbas to engage in terorrism against Ukraine.

= Russia organised a network of Czech terrorists on Czech territory.

zpravy.aktualne.cz/domaci/ncoz-pr…)

Open letter organised by @_EuropeanValues: Czech politicians and security experts on 11 policy moves against Russia hostile actions:
europeanvalues.cz/ceska-reakce-n…)

In 2016, Czech counterintelligence @biscz said that Russian intelligence officers are assisting Czech citizen to travel to Ukraine where they fight for the Russian side:

(full annual report: bis.cz/public/site/bi…)

CORRECTION: Sources say it was 5-6 arrests and about 15 individuals brought for questioning.