The Czech Foreign Ministry Considers it Possible Reducing Staff Numbers in Russian Missions

The Czech Foreign Ministry is discussing with the Russian side the issue of the number of diplomats at the Russian embassy in Prague, said Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček on Sunday. In an interview with Czech media, he also said that there was an issue of cutting the number of cars registered by the Russian Embassy: “We can only assume for what purpose these vehicles are used”. According to Petříček estimates, made on the basis of the annual reports of the BIS intelligence service, representatives of Russia and China are increasing their activity in the Czech Republic. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that in the future it would be possible to solve the issue of reducing the number of diplomats and non-diplomatic personnel so that their number would correspond to the size of the Czech Republic. However Tomash Petříček stressed that Prague would not like Moscow to impose any restrictions on the work of the Czech Embassy in Russia. The Minister clearly spoke at the response measures taken in interstate practice that could be applied to the Czech Republic by the Russian side. Source: svoboda.org