PRAGUE, 18 October – RIA Novosti. Prime Minister Petr Fiala told reporters on Tuesday that the response of the Czech authorities to the removal of part of the fence near the “Czech House” in Moscow would be within the diplomatic framework, the response would be sufficient.

According to Czech TV, on Monday, employees of the Moscow Tverskoy District Council dismantled part of the fence around the public and cultural center “Cheshsky Dom”, located on the 3rd Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, 2.5 kilometers from the Kremlin. He said that the construction of the fence is not allowed.

“I am in contact with Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky on this matter. The Czech response will abide by international rules, the matter will be resolved within the framework of Czech diplomacy, so I do not want to comment further. Of course not. This is a case that we can quietly skip and accept as something natural. This, of course, This is not the case and the Czech Republic will respond in appropriate ways.” Fiala said.

In response, Lipavsky described the incident as a serious violation of the Czech Republic’s property rights in the Russian Federation.

After February 24 of this year, according to the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, the Czech House operates in maintenance mode, at the moment it has only 3 Czech and 4 Russian employees. Of the more than 50 rooms in the hotel part of the house, only two are occupied. There is also a restaurant and office space, which is no longer in operation. On Monday afternoon, employees of the Czech Embassy erected a temporary fence in place of the detached part of the fence.

Relations between the countries deteriorated after the leaders of the Czech government reported the incident, which was blamed by the Russian special services regarding the explosions in the warehouses in the village of Vrbetice on April 17, 2021, 18 employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague were expelled. Czech Republic and, as a response measure, 20 employees of the Czech diplomatic mission were expelled from Moscow.

In February 2022, after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, by decision of the Czech government, permits for the activities of the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in the cities of Brno (in the southeast of the country) and Karlovy Vary ( in the west of the country) were withdrawn, their staff returned to the Russian Federation. In addition, by the decision of the Council of Ministers, until March 2023, the issuance of visas for citizens of the Russian Federation to enter the Czech Republic and long-term residence permits in the republic were suspended.