Security incidents in Germany reverberate in Czechia
Recent security incidents in Germany are prompting a response in Czechia. The foreign minister has rejected the Russian ambassador’s characterisation of a drone attack at Leipzig airport, while Czechia has responded to events in neighbouring Germany with increased vigilance.
This week, senior German officials said that Russia had been behind a drone attack at Leipzig airport in August.
European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said Leipzig marked a new escalation on EU soil directly attributed to Russia.
In Prague, the minister of foreign affairs, Petr Macinka, described the events in Leipzig as alarming.
“If we are to witness events such as this in Western Europe, then the whole matter takes on a European dimension.”
On Thursday, the minister summoned the Russian ambassador to the Foreign Ministry’s Czernin Palace.
Mr. Macinka himself took part in the meeting with Moscow’s envoy, Anna Ponomareva, a move regarded as unusual when an ambassador is called in.
Afterwards he said that he rejected the Russian diplomat’s position. She told him that accusations Moscow was behind the Leipzig incident represented a “provocation” serving the interests of another party.
Mr. Macinka countered that both Germany and Czechia’s intelligence agencies had provided credible evidence to the contrary.
In addition, the minister informed Ms. Ponomareva that Prague would tighten conditions for Russia’s diplomatic mission in Czechia. This comes in direct response to restrictions the Kremlin recently placed on the Czech Embassy in Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Czech president, Petr Pavel, told CNN this week that Russia was now focusing on actions that were “below the threshold of military aggression.”
Russia possesses a “whole arsenal” of tactics that make attribution to Moscow more difficult, Mr. Pavel said.
Other suspected acts of sabotage to infrastructure have also been reported in Germany.
On Friday the Czech minister of the interior, Lubomír Metnar, said his officials were closely monitoring the situation in neighbouring states, including Germany. He said this was in response to a recent rise in incidents linked to suspected sabotage or hybrid activities carried out by foreign powers.
Mr. Metnar said that security had been boosted at some facilities in Czechia, but declined to say which ones for operational reasons.
Novinky.cz reported that security had been beefed up at Czech airports and railway stations.
