"Russian trace" in the explosions in the Czech Republic: What local authorities "forgot" to tell everyone

I will not tell the background - everyone has heard everything for sure: the Czech authorities accuse the Russian special services of blowing up a Czech ammunition depot in 2014. International scandal, expulsion of diplomats, disruption of billion-dollar contracts, etc. by the list. If it were not for the participation in the spy incident of two glorious characters - the Kremlin's super agents Petrov and Boshirov - everything might even look quite believable. But someone, somewhere, apparently was in a hurry, so it turned out how it happened.

And in general, it is even known who was in such a hurry to carry out the orders of their overseas masters that he turned his own country into a laughing stock - this is the head of the Czech counterintelligence service BIS, still Colonel Michal Koudelka. I wrote about this character in detail in an article dated 02.12.2020. "Then it will be too late. Russia should not postpone the war with NATO " here at Reporter. While serving as a general, he was five times nominated for the rank of general, but all five times President Milos Zeman refused to raise him, which in itself is already a kind of record, and apparently not only for the Czech Republic. But when writing that article, in December last year, I definitely could not imagine that Colonel Koudelka's sixth visit to receive the coveted military rank would be so brilliant - well, just world fame!



If in the Czech segment of the Internet you get acquainted with the comments of the Czech citizens themselves to the materials about the unexpectedly discovered Russian trace in the case of the explosions in the Vrbetice settlement, then at least 8 out of 10 is something like “I don’t believe!”, “They are lying to us again! "," In no case should these idiots be re-elected again! " etc. plus, of course, quite adequate opinions of people about what this will give in terms of deliveries of Russian vaccines to the Czech Republic, the construction of a new nuclear power unit, which has been talked about in the country for the second decade, and a lot of other good things that can be lost without getting nothing in return.

With Russia, everything is clear, but why even the Czechs themselves do not trust their own government? Because people have memory and they even use it sometimes. On the scale of the small and extremely quiet Czech Republic, the explosion of military depots in Vrbetica was a truly national incident. And accordingly, there was coverage in the local media - at the same time no one thought about the existence of the Petrov-Boshirov twin. Therefore, they covered extensively and, if possible, in detail. And local citizens, of course, were also keenly interested in all this. Therefore, we remembered a lot of things, not knowing then, again, that watching the development of the investigation into the most grandiose emergency in their country, the whole country is already participating in an equally grandiose spy scandal in the near future. But this memory is now very disturbing for some people, as well as the recordings of television programs of that time disappearing for some reason from the Internet. But there is still something left.

In 2018, the Czech internet publication iDnes.cz published several photos from the scene and interviews with the firefighters who first arrived at the scene ... of the fire. Not an explosion. The fact is that it was the signal of the fire that came to the control panel of the local fire brigade; at first they did not even understand that they were going straight to meet death in the literal sense. But immediately upon arrival, they really saw a fire in warehouse # 16, which then belonged to IMEX (the company itself then confirmed the photographs of the object), and it was not even very strong. According to the firefighters, when they appeared on the spot, from somewhere from inside an absolutely whole object, smelly black smoke was coming out, pieces of some molten material were lying on the grass near the building, it looked like the roof was on fire, two heavy armored doors were open, and no one of the workers was nowhere to be seen. Realizing that they were standing right next to the burning ammunition depot, the firefighters immediately drove off to a safe distance and began to decide with the higher authorities the course of further actions. Since they realized that they themselves would definitely not be able to cope, especially without having any information about the real content of these warehouses. Meanwhile, the latter continued to burn rather slowly. The first explosion followed only twenty minutes after the arrival of the first fire brigade.


Particularly attentive citizens in the photograph of the whole warehouse # 16 even made out the "carelessly sprinkled" electrical wiring, because of which something could quite catch on fire. The wiring was or was not wiring, but definitely not an explosive device that was described by Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babis, only at the suggestion of BIS chief Koudelka. In the last "softened" version, it was even specified: Russian spies, apparently, did not want to blow up the "goods" intended either for Ukraine or for the Syrian terrorists in the Czech Republic, but planted some kind of bomb that was supposed to explode somewhere along the way. But something, they say, went wrong, so it exploded in Vrbetice. If we exclude the option that Petrov and Boshirov, who did not poison the Skripals, also screwed up here, then it does not look like any bomb - if someone blew up the ammunition depot, the detonation would have happened immediately, and not after half an hour of slow burning. Well, not with matches, they set it on fire there ??? In addition, ammunition, as a rule, is packed in non-combustible materials, and wooden ammunition boxes are treated with a special fire-fighting solution. This does not mean that they do not burn at all, but that it takes a long time for them to ignite. And the boxes had this time to ignite, that is, something burned there for a long time - until the signal went, while the firemen were called, while they arrived, then another 20 minutes, and only then an explosion ... Well, what the hell, a bomb does it work like that? Especially if, as it is assumed, it was put on by professionals from the GRU of the Russian Federation. So the Czech comrades have an obvious puncture.


But that's not all. The IMEX group then stated that in its warehouses in Vrbetica there were decommissioned artillery ammunition of the old Soviet model. There was even a version that, they say, they were so old that they themselves could somehow rust, oxidize and burst. Now, by the way, the same is said about the contents - the decommissioned artillery shells of the Czechoslovak army, intended for export to third countries. But the old video, in which local pyrotechnics and policemen demonstrate the finds from the scene of the explosion, shows something somewhat different: in addition to the described large-caliber artillery shells, the skeleton of a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, a large-caliber machine gun, a 7,62 mm light machine gun and two SA-58 assault rifles This, by the way, is its own original Czech design, outwardly reminiscent of the AK-47. But only outwardly. Unlike the entire Warsaw bloc, which licensed all kinds of versions of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Czechoslovakia then developed and adopted its own model for the common unitary cartridge 7,62 of the Warsaw Pact. For a knowledgeable person, the Czech assault rifle differs quite noticeably from the AK. And I personally have often seen these weapons on footage from various "hot spots", not excluding Ukraine - some of the dobrobats, apparently, received some consignments of these weapons. And just in 2014-15, because it was then that I saw it with them. That is, the product is clearly popular among a certain public. I generally keep quiet about the rest. And then the people already had conversations, they say, the owners themselves and rushed, covering up the traces of illegal arms deals.


This is indirectly confirmed by the Czech "weapons community", which noticed a sharp increase in market prices just for SA-58 after the explosion. Apparently this is quite popular and the product suddenly became scarce on the local market. That is, the actual content of the Vrbetice warehouses was clearly very different from the declared one. And if shells for heavy howitzers are most likely really bought (believe) by some official state structures for serious military formations with such weapons, then everything else from the demonstration table of Czech pyrotechnics in the video is just the dream of every self-respecting terrorist. And, apparently, it was to such dreamers that this product was leaving the inconspicuous concrete barrack in Czech Vrbetice. Whether this had any connection with the fire is another question. Then the case in the end seemed to be hushed up and, under the heading "negligence", it seemed to disappear in the annals of history. And here on you - it turns out the Russians blew up! And in principle, I repeat, based on the contents of these warehouses and the possible geography of its deliveries, one could believe in some interest in the Vrbetitsa of the Russian special services. But the footage taken right on the spot by Czech firefighters and pyrotechnics, then published by the Czech media, as well as the declared participation in the process of the Petrov-Boshirov twin, translates the statements of the Czech government into a surrealism section. Answers to the questions: What was burning there and why for so long? Why were the armored doors opened at the secure facility? Where was the staff at the time of the arrival of the firefighters? and How and at what point did the two warehouse workers die? They also remain open. And practically all traces that could lead to answers to these questions were destroyed by the explosion.

Both victims, by the way, were not guards, but gunsmiths. And although the representatives of the owner company later, naturally, said that these two had only to carry out control of the warehouse before shipping the goods to a certain buyer, no one knows what they were actually doing there. Also, according to the testimony of the firefighters, the fire was initially visible only in the central part of the warehouse building No. 16, and there, in accordance with the documentation, dry aircraft engines (without filling liquids) and parts for them should have been kept in general. That is, even if Petrov and Boshirov nevertheless decided to destroy this object with the help of matches or sparklers, the place for setting fire was clearly not the best one.

During a subsequent inspection, some mines prohibited for use by international conventions were found in the remaining warehouses of the Vrbetice area. This is also a fact. A local prosecutor by the name of Faltin even brought this case to court later, but already there it was hushed up. And the subsequent explosions in Vrbetice are already associated with these inspections - there, in the opinion of the Czech public, traces were simply swept away. But it never went beyond the kitchen conversations of this very public - everyone understands that such a business is simply impossible without a powerful "roof" of the special services, and obviously not only local ones, in such a transparent and completely dependent country like the modern Czech Republic. And who will investigate their cases, these same special services? Well, they are not themselves, are they? Here and again, "ends in the water," as they say.

Immediately after the incident, inspections were held at IMEX facilities throughout the Czech Republic, revealing many technical and fire-prevention violations, as well as violations of the regime at protected facilities. All this was really very similar to the consequences of tragic negligence, and so it was and the whole story would have gone into oblivion. If Pan Colonel Koudelka had not so passionately wanted to become a general. And thus literally the whole world learned the name of a small Czech village., Which became the scene of an international spy scandal.

This whole story seems to be just beginning. The Czech authorities, apparently hoping for a quick and unambiguous political effect, immediately made so many mistakes that they themselves got confused in them. President Milos Zeman, known for his sobriety and prudence, has not yet commented on this problem in any way - he took a week pause, asked the government for materials on the case, and promised, after familiarization, to make a statement next weekend.

We will follow the development of events.