On Tuesday, the Czech Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador to voice its concerns over the usage of Russian diplomatic properties in the Czech Republic.
In a diplomatic spat over Prague’s suspicions of Russian participation in a 2014 explosion at a weapons store, the Czech Republic expelled roughly 100 Russian embassy workers last year, and the government has been one of the most vocal supporters of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in a statement that ‘diplomatic missions on the territory of a foreign state must obey not only the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, but also the regulations and legislation of the host country.’
‘Russia does not do this and does not follow the rule of law,’ the ministry noted, without going into more detail.
The Russian Embassy in Prague expressed its displeasure with the statements, claiming that the use of Russian real estate in the Czech Republic and Czech real estate in Russia had been the subject of expert discussions for years and that the Czech side had rejected calls for a new round of negotiations.
On its Facebook page, it wrote, ‘It would be appropriate to stop from politicising and drawing public attention to this sphere of our mutual interactions and revert to a well-proven negotiation procedure.’
According to the CTK news agency, a newly formed working committee to deal with Russian-owned properties discovered dozens of properties that prompted questions about whether they were still being used for diplomatic purposes. It didn’t go on to say anything else.
The Prague area where the Russian embassy is located requested earlier this year that a Russian school building, which has been vacant since the Czechs evicted Russian diplomats last year, be made available to Ukrainian refugee children.
Post Your Comments