Czech Republic looks set to expel more Russians after deadline passes

The Czech Republic looks set to expel more Russian diplomats after the Kremlin failed to respond to a call to allow 20 expelled Czech diplomats to return to Moscow by noon on Thursday. Prague had earlier thrown out 18 Russian diplomats it identified as spies and said Russia was responsible for deadly explosions in Moravia in 2014; Russia’s tit-for-tat move followed days later.

On Wednesday Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhánek said Prague would equalise staffing at the countries’ respective embassies if Moscow did not allow the Czechs back.

Speaking ahead of the 12 o’clock deadline, the Czech prime minister, Andrej Babiš, said many people had highlighted the fact there was an unusually large staff at the Russian Embassy in Prague. He said the government did not want to provoke hostility but the fact that foreign agents had caused the deaths of two Czechs was unacceptable.