Top Russian Diplomat Dismisses Czech Claims of Poison Plot
media
reports alleging a Russian plot to poison the mayor of Prague and
another official in the Czech capital.
Respekt weekly said in its latest edition published on Monday that Czech intelligence services suspected a Russian agent was sent to Prague three weeks ago to poison Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib and Prague 6 mayor Ondrej Kolar. The story was based on anonymous sources.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov ridiculed the claims, saying
that the notion that Czech authorities spotted a Russian man with
powerful poison ricin and let him through doesn't make any sense.
Czech officials didn't comment, but Kolar said in a television
interview Tuesday that he has been under police protection because of
"some facts that have been found, the fact that there's a Russian here
whose goal is to liquidate me." He added that the alleged assassin was
also targeting Hrib and Pavel Novotny, Prague's Reporyje district
mayor.
Lavrov scoffed at the allegations.
"They found a deadly poison and let him into the country?" he said at
Thursday's briefing. "Would any sound person believe in these
fabrications."
Moscow and Prague have been at loggerheads for weeks after Kolar's
district removed the statue of Soviet World War II commander Ivan Konev
whose armies liberated Prague from Nazi occupation. Officials in Prague 6
said the statue will be moved to a museum and a new monument honoring
the city's liberation will be installed in its place.
The statue's removal caused outrage in Russia, which has angrily
lashed out at any attempts to diminish the nation's decisive role in
defeating the Nazis.
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