Russian GRU spies behind 2018 Salisbury poisonings also destroyed Czech ammo ... trends now

The same Russian spy unit behind the 2018 Salisbury poisonings was behind two deadly ammunition depot blasts in the Czech Republic, an investigation has found.

The explosions near the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice in 2014 killed two workers and caused extensive damage - four years before an assassination attempt was made against former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in the English town.

Czech authorities announced back in 2021 that they had received evidence of Russian involvement in the explosions and expelled 18 Russian diplomats.

Police in the country said today they have now shelved the investigation - which was being carried out in partnership with British police - involving the Russian secret service, citing Moscow's unwillingness to cooperate.

However, the Czech National Central Office Against Organised Crime (NCOZ) said in its report that 'the police authority considers it proven that the explosions [...] were carried out by members of the Russian military intelligence, the Main Administration of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (aka the GRU).'

The unit's motive was to 'prevent the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the areas where the Russian army was conducting its operations,' NCOZ said.

It was reported at the time that the ammo was likely set to be transferred to Ukraine in its battle against pro-Kremlin separatists in the east, or to Syria to assist opposition forces fighting against the regime of Bashar al-Assad - a Russian ally.

The blasts in the NATO-member Czech Republic occurred only months after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in early 2014, sparking anger in the west.

As a result of the explosions, two people died, over one thousand people had to leave their homes, and it took six years for the police to clear the area of ammunition. 

Russia has long been suspected of waging a shadow war across Europe with secretive units doing the bidding of the Kremlin.

Czech police said the Vrbetice blasts were 'a part of long-term diversionary operations by the Russian military intelligence on the territory of the EU and Ukraine'.

Czech intelligence and media said the agents were the same ones suspected of poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, England, in 2018 - Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga.

The pair used the same fake names they later used in the UK in the attack on the Skripals - Ruslan Boshirov [Chepiga] and Alexander Petrov [Miskin]. 

The Russian operatives operatives belonged to notorious GRU Unit 29155.

While the report did not name Chepiga and Mishkin, their identities were

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