Babiš: Deadly Russian operation at Czech munitions store not act of state terrorism

The Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, says that Russian involvement in explosions at a munitions depot in Moravia in 2014 that left two dead did not constitute state terrorism. Speaking after a government meeting on Monday evening, he said the Russian operation – which resulted in the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats in recent days – was rather a botched attack on goods being purchased by a Bulgarian arms dealer.

Mr. Babiš also said that a BIS counterintelligence agency report on the matter may not be made public in full.

The Czech Ministry of Finance will seek financial compensation for the outcome of the explosion, which has been put at around CZK 1 billion.

In addition the Czech Republic will not now consider a bid from Russia’s Rosatom in a tender process to build a new nuclear unit at the Dukovany power plant. Deputy PM and industry minister Karel Havlíček told reporters that Rosatom was being excluded from a security assessment procedure that proceeds the actual tender process.