Arrest in Russia-linked school bomb threats sparks Czech-Slovak row
PRAGUE - Slovakia's arrest of a Ukrainian suspect in last year's school bomb threats has sparked tensions with Czechia after Prague said the man was likely funded by Russian, a detail Slovak authorities left out.
The Ukrainian suspect is accused of sending bomb threats that disrupted hundreds of schools across Slovakia and Czechia in September 2024, prompting evacuations and emergency police action. In a Facebook post , Slovak police said the arrest was made in Dnipro, Ukraine, as part of a joint operation with Czech and Ukrainian counterparts.
But the Slovak statement, which according to the Czech officials was missing some information, quickly drew pushback.
The Czech Security Information Service (BIS) said the Ukrainian suspect was 'likely financed by a Russian actor ' - a detail omitted from the Slovak police statement. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský similarly referred to 'a very likely' Russian actor behind the threats.
In a press release , Prague's public prosecutor's office said the case is classified as a threat to commit a terrorist crime, which carries a sentence of five to 15 years under Czech law.
However, the case has exposed deeper strains in Czech-Slovak cooperation.
According to Czech outlet Deník N , Czech prosecutors had urged Slovak authorities to delay the announcement until both sides could present a complete account - including the Russian connection. 'The Slovaks released it deliberately, to make it look like Ukrainians were behind it,' one source told the outlet.
Tensions escalated after Czech police spokesperson Ondřej Moravčík told CNN Prima NEWS: 'It's not that we were cooperating - we were the key players, and they just tagged along.' Although the quote was then removed from the broadcast, an audio recording spread online.
Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok defended his police forces and urged Czech officials to exercise restraint - but not say why the Russian link was not disclosed.
Slovakia's opposition jumped on the fallout, accusing the government of mishandling the case and calling for Eštok's resignation.
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