Russia will respond to Prague’s decision to declare two employees of the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic as persona non grata, First Deputy Chair of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Affairs Vladimir Dzhabarov told RIA Novosti.

According to Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, the relevant decision was made after a Russian diplomat allegedly brought ricin to the Czech Republic.

The Russian embassy said the decision of Prague is an unfriendly move, which was originally based on unsubstantiated charges, and fabricated provocation. The diplomatic missions noted that they were deeply disappointed with the measures taken by the Czech side.

In late April, the weekly Respekt reported that a man with a Russian diplomatic passport arrived in Prague. He allegedly had ricin with him to poison three local politicians who were involved in the demolition of the monument to Soviet Marshal and the renaming of the square in front of the Russian Embassy.

Later, the Czech media called the name of this person - according to them, this is Andrei Konchakov, head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Prague.

Czech President Milos Zeman doubted the credibility of the information about the poisoning attempt, while First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Jan Hamacek admitted that the police and special services did not have any evidence.