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2014 Vrbětice ammunition warehouse explosions

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A no entry clean-up zone secured by Czech police in May 2018.

In 2014, two explosions of ammunition depots occurred in Vrbětice (part of Vlachovice) in the Zlín District of the Czech Republic. The first explosion occurred on 16 October, and the second on 3 December. Two people were killed in the first explosion. According to the Security Information Service and the Police of the Czech Republic, two GRU agents from Unit 29155 were involved in the explosions.[1][2]

First explosion

Warehouse number 16 contained 50 tonnes of ammunition, which was thrown as far as 800 metres (870 yd) away after the explosion on 16 October.[3] Two employees of Imex Group, which was renting the depot from state company Military Technical Institute (Czech: Vojenský technický ústav, VTÚ), were killed.[4]

The ammunition depot was not present in Zlín District emergency plans, so firefighters at the scene had no idea what kind of fire they were going to, which put them in unnecessary danger.[5] Immediately after the explosion, about 100 people from the nearby village Vlachovice, as well as students from elementary school and high school in Slavičín, were evacuated from the warehouse area.[6]

On 23 October, the police started the evacuation of 375 people from the villages Lipová, Vlachovice and from industrial area nearby town of Slavičín.[3] The evacuation, which lasted for two days, was a preventive measure, as pyrotechnicians were moving closer to the villages. There were random, uncontrolled detonations in the area caused by ammunition falling from trees or caused by wildlife. On 30 October, the police announced that access to the area was safe, and 7,000 tonnes of ammunition from the depots could be moved away.[7]

Second explosion

On 3 December 2014, depot number 12 exploded. The depot, which contained 100 tonnes of ammunition, was 1.2 kilometres (0.75 mi)[8] from epicentre of the first explosion. 430 people from surrounding villages were evacuated.[9] According to the Imex Group's lawyer, artillery ammunition and submachine guns were stored in the depot. He believed that the depot could not explode on its own.[10]

Cleaning up the damage

Uncontrolled blasts continued after the second explosion. The last one was observed in the middle of December 2014. On 22 December, clean-up workers returned to Vrbětice. Ammunition continued to be removed through January 2015, totaling almost 550 trucks. In January 2016, cleaning of the area from unexploded munition begun. At the end of 2019, area cleanups continued.[11] In October 2020 the clean-up was finished.[12] The cost of clean-up at the end of 2015 was close to CZK 350 million; the cost of cleaning unexploded ammunition was estimated to be up to CZK 1 billion.[11]

Involvement of Russian GRU

According to the Security Information Service and the Police of the Czech Republic,the depot explosions were probably engineered by Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers.[2] The announcement was made at a press conference by the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on 17 April 2021.[13] Babiš said that there was "reasonable suspicion regarding a role of members of Russian military intelligence GRU's unit 29155 in the explosion."[14] On the same day, Minister of the Interior and acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced that the Czech Republic was expelling all Russian diplomats who had been identified as Russian intelligence services′ operatives, namely 18 diplomats in the Russian embassy in Prague.[14][13][15][16] Two Russian intelligence officers Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga suspected of carrying out the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 were alleged to have been involved in the explosions. Mishkin and Chepiga reportedly arrived to Prague from Moscow on 13 October and left on 16 October. Although no one saw them in the ammunition depot, the investigators believe that both visited Vrbětice ammunition depot as business people, having received passes for false identities (Chepiga as Ruslan Tabarov, Mishkin as Nikolaj Popa).[15][17]

According to the Czech newsmagazine Respekt, the ammunition stored in the exploded depot was to be sold to Ukraine battling in the war in Donbas through the Bulgarian arms trader Emilian Gebrev;[18][15] Gebrev himself was poisoned in 2015 allegedly by the GRU.[15][19] Jan Hamáček said the munitions were not planned to explode on Czech territory but only after being transported to Bulgaria.[20]

According to the news portal of Seznam.cz, the ammunition was to be sold to the Syrian opposition battling in Syrian civil war against the Syrian Armed Forces led by Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Russia.[21]

Czech Trade Minister Karel Havlicek said that Russia's Rosatom will be excluded from the nuclear tender to build a new unit of the Dukovany Nuclear Power Station.[22]

References

  1. ^ "Czechia expels Russian diplomats over 2014 ammunition depot blast". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  2. ^ a b "A Czech Explosion, Russian Agents, A Bulgarian Arms Dealer: The Recipe For A Major Spy Scandal In Central Europe". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Okolí vybuchlého skladu obsadili pyrotechnici, evakuace začala". ČT24 (in Czech). 23 October 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Vozárová, Jana (21 November 2014). "Exploze skladu ve Vrběticích má dvě oběti". Zlínský deník (in Czech). Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  5. ^ Fuksa, Aleš (3 November 2014). "Hasiči netušili, do jakého pekla ve Vrběticích jedou - Novinky.cz". www.novinky.cz. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Po výbuchu v muničním skladu jsou dva lidé nezvěstní". ČT24 (in Czech). 16 October 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ "Pyrotechnici vyčistili areál ve Vrběticích, munice se může odvézt". www.novinky.cz. 30 November 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Vrbětice: Evakuovaní lidé se domů dnes nevrátí". ČT24 (in Czech). 14 December 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  9. ^ "Ve Vrběticích explodoval jiný sklad s municí, lidé stráví noc mimo domov". iDNES.cz. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  10. ^ "Sklad nemohl vybuchnout samovolně, řekl zástupce firmy, která si jej pronajímala - Novinky.cz". www.novinky.cz. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ a b "Před pěti lety vybuchlo ve Vrběticích 60 tun munice. Policejní zásah trvá dodnes". ČT24 (in Czech). 16 October 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "Po šesti letech skončil nejdelší a nejdražší zásah policie, čištění Vrbětic". iDNES.cz. 15 October 2020. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Do výbuchu ve Vrběticích byli zapojení ruští agenti, oznámil Babiš. Česko jich osmnáct vyhostí". ČT24 (in Czech). 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ a b "Czech Republic Expels 18 Russian Diplomats Over Depot Blast; Searches For Skripal Poisoning Suspects". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 17 March 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  15. ^ a b c d Spurný, Ondřej; Kundra, Jaroslav (17 April 2020). "Za výbuchem muničního skladu ve Vrběticích stojí ruští agenti, kteří se pokusili zabít Skripala". Respekt. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Czechs expel 18 Russian envoys, accuse Moscow over ammunition depot blast". Reuters. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  17. ^ "Salisbury poisoning agents 'linked to Czech blast'". BBC News. 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Czechs Inform EU, NATO Over Alleged Russian Links To 2014 Depot Blast". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  19. ^ "Third Skripal Suspect Linked to 2015 Bulgaria Poisoning". Bellingcat. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
  20. ^ "Minister: Blast involving Russian agents intended to occur elsewhere". Radio Prague. 18 April 2021.
  21. ^ Blažek, Vojtěch (17 April 2021). "Proč ruští agenti zabíjeli v Česku: aby zabránili dodávce zbraní do Sýrie a na Ukrajinu". www.seznamzpravy.cz. Retrieved 18 April 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ "Deputy PM: Rosatom to be excluded from key Czech nuclear tender". Radio Prague. 18 April 2021.
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