Russia expels two Czech diplomats

(ANSA) - MOSCOW, JUNE 15 - Russia has decided to expel two Czech diplomats after Prague in turn expelled two Russian diplomats earlier this month: the press agency Interfax reports. The two Czech diplomats are due to leave the country by 17 June. The Czech ambassador to Russia, Vitezslav Pivonka, had been summoned today by the Moscow Foreign Ministry. The Czech Republic had expelled the two Russians by accusing a member of the Russian embassy in Prague for spreading unfounded rumors about a planned attack on the poison against Czech political counterparts. "An embassy employee sent deliberately fabricated information about a planned attack on Czech politicians," Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters. The story of the alleged piano murderer appeared in a magazine according to Czech intelligence in April, suspecting that the mayor of the capital Zdenek Hrib and the head of district 6 Ondrej Kolar were targeting a Russian citizen with a diplomatic passport.