Moscow Blasts Ban on Russian Diplomat's Entry to Czech Republic

On 4 March, a member of the Russian delegation was refused entry to the Czech Republic "for security reasons". The member flew in to attend a meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

Moscow will respond to the actions of the Czech authorities after they refused to allow a Russian Foreign Ministry official to enter the country, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

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"Of course, such confrontational attacks [the refusal of a Russian diplomat to enter the Czech Republic] will not remain without an adequate response from our side. Responsibility for the likely negative consequences of this policy in relation to Russia rests entirely with the initiators of this campaign," Zakharova said.

According to Zakharova, "the situation looks ugly because it is a cynical and thoughtful demarche that was carried out at the request of the Czech Foreign Ministry to a colleague who is in charge of bilateral relations, and everyone in Prague is well aware of this."

A representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, who was going to the Czech Republic as part of the official Russian delegation to participate in a meeting of the Russian-Czech intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, was denied entry to the Czech Republic, a spokesperson for the Russian embassy in Prague said.

In this regard, the Russian embassy in Prague made a representation to the Czech deputy foreign minister and the director of the supervising territorial department of the Czech Foreign Ministry, the spokesperson added.