Russia-Czech Tensions: Moscow Retaliates, Prague Looks To Exclude Russia From State Contracts

Russia retaliated after diplomats were expelled from the Czech Republic over the weekend by doing likewise.

But as tensions continue to escalate, the Czech Republic minister for Trade and Industry, Karel Havlíček said late Sunday it would be likely for Russia energy company Rosatom to be excluded from bidding for a local project.

The project is a nuclear power plant in Dukovany in the region of Vysočina. It is the largest government contract with a budget of approximately $9.1 billion.

It is also expected that talks on Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine will fall apart. Earlier this year, Prague said it was interested in the Russian-developed vaccine. However, the Czech Republic interior minister Jan Hamáček said he would cancel a scheduled trip to Moscow this week.

Russian expelled 20 Czech diplomats. Unlike the Czech government, which gave 18 expelled Russian diplomats 72 hours to exit Russia only gave the expelled Czech diplomats 24 hours to leave.

Russia denied Czech allegations that Russia intelligence operatives were involved in a deadly blast in October 2014 at an munitions storage facility that killed two people. Two suspects were identified by Czech authorities as having links to the explosion: Anatoly Chepigov and Alexander Mishkin.

Aside from the blast, Chepigov and Mishkin are accused of being involved in the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury three years ago.

After the republic expelled 18 Russian diplomats the White House gave its support to Prague in its "firm response against Russia's subversive actions on Czech soil."

In a statement on Twitter, U.S. State Department representative Ned Price added that countries should "act firmly" against Russian-linked movements that could "compromise the territorial integrity, energy security, or critical infrastructure of our allies and partners."

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said the "UK stands in full support for our Czech allies."

Late last week, U.S. President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Russia over hacking that broke into government agencies and some of the biggest American companies.

A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said a retaliatory move was "inevitable" after U.S. sanctions but gave no further details.