DISINFO: Accusations of Russia's involvement in the Vrbětice bombings are baseless
SUMMARY
Accusations of Russia's involvement in the [Vrbětice] warehouse bombings in the Czech Republic are baseless, untrue, and shameful.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Vrbětice ammunition warehouse bombings in the Czech Republic. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced on 17 April 2021 that the Czech intelligence services had collected evidence demonstrating Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion.
More specifically, it implicates Unit 29155, a division of Russia's GRU agency previously linked to "assassination attempts and other subversive actions across Europe." According to Mr Babiš, the first discussions around the GRU’s involvement took place on the 7th of April 2021. Prague's findings were independently corroborated in the course of an investigation jointly conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czech Republic).
Bellingcat announced already in 2020 that members of Unit 29155 were present in Czechia during the period when a large arms depot exploded in northern Moravia.
See similar cases that there is no evidence of Moscow's involvement in the 2014 Vrbetice explosion, that allegations of a Russian role in the Vrbetice explosion are part of a Russophobic smear campaign, and that Czech allegations against Russia aim to overshadow a failed attempt on Lukashenka's life.