Czech Foreign Ministry Breaks with Protocol to Summon Russian Ambassador Over Leipzig Incident

On Thursday, the Czech Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Anna Ponomareva for talks over a series of incidents across European Union countries, including a recent case at Leipzig Airport. Under normal protocol, ambassadors are usually received by a deputy minister rather than the minister himself, but this time Czech Foreign Minister Jan Macinka made an exception and conducted the meeting personally.

"He met with her," confirmed Czech diplomatic spokesman Adam Čerkó. According to sources, Macinka wanted to hold the meeting himself. By comparison, when the ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador last week over threats made against Radio Farda, only the director of the Middle East department took part in the talks.

What the Minister Told the Ambassador

According to the Czech Foreign Ministry, Macinka condemned the recent string of incidents across EU countries, including the latest one at Leipzig Airport. "Based on compelling information provided by the German side, as well as the Czech Republic's own intelligence from two security services, the minister rejected the ambassador's explanation describing these incidents as provocations serving someone else's interests," the ministry said in a statement published on its website.

At the same meeting, Macinka informed the Russian ambassador that the Czech Republic is introducing mirror restrictions on the diplomatic and technical staff of the Russian embassy in Prague, in response to Moscow's recent tightening of conditions for the Czech diplomatic mission there.

The German Trail and Moscow's Response

According to Germany's Interior Ministry, Russia is linked to espionage and sabotage operations across Europe, and the August incident at Leipzig/Halle Airport fits "a known pattern of Russian hybrid operations." Germany's version of events points to agents hired by Russian state structures as being behind the attack. In response, Berlin plans to close the Russian consulate general in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin.

Moscow denies the allegations. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed German authorities invented the pretext themselves to shut down both institutions.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz