Prague mayor under protection after reports of Russian plot to poison him over statue controversy
- Local media reports said Russian agent had entered Czech city with ricin, a biological weapon
- Zdenek Hrib clashed with Moscow because he oversaw removal of Soviet war hero’s statue, which Russian diplomats called an ‘unfriendly’ act of ‘vandalism’
Prague’s mayor said on Monday that he was under police protection, but stopped short of confirming Czech media reports that he had been targeted by Russia for removing a statue of a Soviet war hero.
Zdenek Hrib clashed with Moscow earlier this month after he oversaw the removal of a controversial Cold War-era statue dedicated to Soviet general Ivan Konev, a move Russian diplomats called an “unfriendly” act of “vandalism by unhinged municipal representatives”.
Regarded as a hero in Russia, Konev is regarded by many Czechs as a symbol of Soviet-era oppression.
“Protection was simply granted to me by the Czech police,” Hrib told independent Russian radio station Echo of Moscow on Monday.
“It was their decision, I am unable to comment on the reasons” behind the decision, he added.
The comments came on the heels of a Monday report in the Czech weekly news magazine Respekt claiming that a Russian national using a diplomatic passport had recently arrived in Prague carrying ricin, a toxic poison that can be used as a biological weapon.