Russian Ambassador Summoned by Czech Foreign Ministry

PRAGUE (Sputnik) - The Czech Foreign Ministry says it has summoned Russian Ambassador in Prague Alexander Zmeyevsky.

"This evening, Deputy [Foreign] Minister Martin Smolek summoned the Russian Ambassador to protest against Russian provocations against diplomatic staff of the Czech Embassy in Moscow. Such unacceptable acts contradict the duties of the Russian Federation under the Vienna Convention," the foreign ministry said on Twitter on Saturday night.

Earlier on Saturday, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said that there was already no room for further reduction of the Russian diplomatic mission in the Czech Republic since 14 Russian diplomats had already left the country.

Lipavsky said that Prague wants to maintain "at least elementary" diplomatic relations with Russia "for many practical reasons" and plans to keep "at least a minimum level of communication" with Moscow.

The West scaled up its pressure on Moscow after Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine in the early hours of February 24. The move came after the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics (DPR and LPR) appealed for help in defending themselves against the Kiev forces. Russia said that the aim of its special operation is to demilitarize and "denazify" Ukraine and that only military infrastructure is being targeted - the civilian population is not in danger. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that it has no plans to occupy Ukraine.