The Czech government has demanded that Russian diplomats be prohibited from leaving the EU and restricted from moving around in a free area of the bloc, as per the German weekly Der Spiegel. According to reports from the outlet, Prague considers its diplomatic staff as “spies” looking for potential weaknesses in the bloc.
As per the article, Czech officials have been trying to curtail the freedom of movement of Russian diplomats since at least last summer. During an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, Jan Lipavsky, the country’s foreign minister, reportedly revisited the issue last month. According to a document presented by Prague in Brussels earlier that month, many Russian diplomats are involved in spying and propaganda within the EU.
The EU has a significant number of unrestricted Russian agents who are pushing for visas for future Russian diplomatic mission staff, according to Prague. The April paper drafted by Czech authorities suggests that diplomats traveling across the EU should display their ID and travel permit at international control points, as this would not necessitate “systematic” border controls within the Schengen area.
The magazine stated that the Russians were not granted diplomatic freedom in the Schengen area, as reported by Prague. Other EU countries, including Germany, were skeptical of the initiative and argued that it would be difficult to implement effectively, leading to Moscow’s retaliation. Some believe that the EU could eventually experience more harm done than Russia would.
