Deputy PM accused of wanting to hush up Russian involvement in blasts in return for Sputnik vaccines

Deputy Prime Minister Jan Hamáček of the Social Democrats is under fire from all sides after the news site Seznam.cz accused him of wanting to hush up the involvement of Russian agents in the 2014 Vrbětice explosions in return for one million Sputnik V vaccines and a US-American summit in Prague. Seznam made the claim citing several independent sources and linking the story to Jan Hamáček’s planned visit to Russia just hours before the Vrbětice scandal broke.

The opposition parties are demanding an explanation from Jan Hamáček and from Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who reportedly signed papers okaying the deputy prime minister’s trip to Moscow.

Mr. Hamáček, has denied the accusation maintaining that the planned visit to Moscow was merely a smoke screen to get the Czech ambassador to Russia back to Prague for consultations without raising suspicion. However the prime minister never confirmed his version of the story and the planned visit was never satisfactorily explained.