Senate declares Vrbětice attack an act of state terrorism

On Wednesday, the Czech Senate voted to declare the explosion at the Vrbětice amunition store in 2014 as an act of state terrorism against an EU Member State and therefore against the whole European Union. The upper-house of Parliament also called on the Czech government to denounce the Czech-Russian treaty of friendship and cooperation. Furthermore, Senators have called on the government to issue a tougher stance on the Russian tit-for-tat move in which 20 Czech diplomats were expelled from the country’s embassy in Moscow, which leaves the Czech diplomatic mission in Russia severely crippled.

67 of the 72 senators present voted in favour of declaring the attack in Vrbětice as an act of “state terrorism”. The Senate also voted to recommend that the government use all of its “instruments and options” to find support in the UN Security Council, NATO and the EU.