The Czech police accuse Russian special services of committing a series of sabotage attacks with explosions at ammunition depots in Vrbětice in 2014.

The news was published on the official website of the Czech police.

The National Headquarters Against Organized Crime of the CPIS (NCOZ) has completed investigations into the explosions at the Vrbětice ammunition depots on October 16 and December 3, 2014.

The explosions killed two Czech citizens and caused more than 1 billion Czech crowns ($42.5 million) in damage.

The NCOZ accuses the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of carrying out the explosions, which were part of a long-term subversive operation by Russian military intelligence in the European Union and Ukraine.

According to the investigation, the motive of the Russian secret service was to disrupt the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the areas of the Russian army’s combat operations.

Details of the operation

According to the investigation, Russian intelligence used its agents, who traveled to the Czech Republic directly to perform the task and immediately returned, to execute the operation. They had detailed information about the weapons stored in the warehouses, their movements, and the end user.

The operation involved Russian agents of the 161st Special Purpose Specialist Training Center (military unit 29155), which specializes in conducting sabotage operations abroad.

The Insider also reported in its investigation that the Šapošnikov family of Russian emigrants living in Greece and holding a Czech passport was involved in organizing the sabotage.

They worked closely with agents of the 161st Special Purpose Specialist Training Center, providing them with information on the names of weapons in the warehouses in Vrbětice owned by Imex.

In 2014, Šapošnikovs arranged for GRU agents Mishkin and Chepiga (known in Russia as Boshirov and Petrov) to have access to their warehouse in Vrbětice with forged passports under the names Ruslan Tabarov and Nikolai Popa, where the shells ordered for Ukraine were stored. On the day of their arrival, a powerful explosion occurred at warehouse 12, destroying the weapons.

On April 18, special police forces in Germany detained Russian agents who were planning a series of sabotage attacks on military facilities in the interests of Russian special services.

One of the saboteurs’ targets was transportation routes used to transport military cargo. The purpose of the planned attacks was to undermine German support for Ukraine.