DISINFO: The claim that Russia was involved in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion is a lie
SUMMARY
The claim that Russia was involved in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion is just a lie, which only unintelligent people could believe.
RESPONSE
This is part of a disinformation campaign about the events surrounding the Vrbětice explosion in 2014 and the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic in 2021 after the involvement of Russian state actors was established by Czech authorities. This campaign follows a similar pattern to others launched after notorious incidents, such as the downing of the MH17 flight or the poisonings of Sergei Skripal and Alexei Navalny, including official denials despite compelling evidence, spreading of multiple and often contradictory versions and speculation about sinister motives or conspiracies behind the accusations. Through these campaigns, the disinformation narratives aim to deflect any Russian responsibility for the incident and portray Russia as innocent of any misdeed.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced on 17 April 2021 that the Czech intelligence services 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."
Prague identified the intelligence officers, and demanded they leave the country over links to an explosion at a privately-operated arms depot in 2014.
Prague's findings were independently corroborated by a joint investigation conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czechia).
The Czech authorities announced on 17 April 2021 that they have been presented evidence from the intelligence services which have serious reasons to believe that Russian GRU Unit 29155 was involved in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion. The Police are looking for two suspects known under the names “Alexander Petrov” and “Ruslan Boshirov” who were also involved in the 2018 Skripals’ poisoning.
More cases can be found here.