European countries are increasingly concerned over Russia’s ramping up efforts to wage a hybrid war across the continent in retaliation for NATO’s Ukraine support.
Instead of direct military confrontation Russia engages in malicious activities, including support for violent far-right extremist groups, spreading disinformation, carrying out assassinations and acts of sabotage.
The Czech Republic has been at the forefront of European countries supporting Ukraine, making it a target of malign Russian actions.
In July, the Czech Republic introduced a requirement that Russian citizens entering or staying in the country have a biometric passport, which includes readable information like facial, iris and fingerprint data, helping authenticate the passport holder’s identity.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the measure is discriminatory.
“By refusing to accept Russian passports lacking biometrical chips, Czech authorities have added to their list of discriminatory measures against Russia & once again demonstrated their Russophobic approaches. In this case, ordinary Russians became their main target,” Russia’s foreign ministry wrote in an August 21 post on X, formerly Twitter, citing Zakharova.
The claim is misleading.
It fits in Moscow’s persistent narrative that Western policies contrary to the Kremlin’s interests are motivated by a prejudice against Russian people, and not the actions of the Russian government. The Kremlin has amplified that narrative since invading Ukraine in 2022.
The Czech Republic has cited legitimate national security concerns, specifically efforts to thwart Russian sabotage, in introducing its biometric passport requirement for Russian citizens.
In April, Russia’s independent investigative publication The Insider reported that Elena and Nikolai Shaposhnikov, whom the Czech Republic had granted political asylum, were so-called “illegals” helping Russian military intelligence execute sabotage missions across Europe. Those malign actions include the poisoning of Bulgarian arms factory owner Emilian Gebrev, and setting off explosions at ammunition depots in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.
Czech authorities concluded that Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) Unit 29155, responsible for foreign assassinations and other sabotage operations in Europe, was responsible for two explosions at Czech ammunition depots in 2014. The attack on the ammunition depot near the eastern Czech village of Vrbetice killed two people.
Czech authorities said that two of the agents behind those attacks, Alexander Petrov and Anatoly Chepiga, had entered the Czech Republic using fake passports without biometric data.
Petrov and Chepiga used the same aliases four years later to poison former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military grade nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury, England.
Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky and other Czech officials cited the Vrbetice case, and the fact the “murderers” had entered the country using passports “with non-biometric data,” in justifying the new passport requirement on security grounds.
Czech authorities also linked Russia to failed arson attacks on Prague city buses in June.
Apart from “illegals” — intelligence operatives working under assumed identities — Russia long used its embassy in the Czech Republic to conduct espionage beyond internationally accepted norms.
Russia at one point had 140 staff members at its embassy in Prague, which the Czech Republic deemed disproportionate to the needs of the mission. In May 2021, the Czech government sent home 123 Russian Embassy staff and family members. The previous month, the Czech Republic deported 18 Russian spies following revelations of Russia’s role in the arms depot attacks.
The European Union, of which the Czech Republic is a member, “in principle” does not require a biometric passport to enter the territory.
However, the EU recognizes that “national order and security remain national competencies,” giving member states latitude to set border controls and other entry policies at the national level.
Citing security concerns related to the war, the European Union suspended the EU-Russia facilitation agreement, which made it easier for Russian citizens to travel to the EU on a short-term basis.
Countries across Europe have instituted measures that, to varying degrees, complicate, if not ban entry to certain Russian citizens.
