PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2020) A Russian diplomat at the center of an alleged poison scandal that Moscow calls groundless has been subject to harassment by Czech media which has resulted in him receiving threats, the Russian embassy in Prague said in a statement on Monday.
"The embassy appealed to the Czech Foreign Ministry with a request to take all appropriate measures to prevent any encroachment on the identity, freedom and dignity of its employee. He has started to receive threats due to the harassment by the Czech media," the embassy said in a statement on Facebook.
The embassy added that it had no choice but to turn to the Czech authorities to ask for police protection.
On Sunday, the Czech news portal Seznam published the alleged correspondence between a reporter and the head of the Russian governmental agency administering civilian foreign aid and cultural exchange Rossotrudnichestvo in the Czech Republic, Andrey Konchakov, alleged to be the individual that brought the poison ricin to the country.
Earlier in the day, Eleonora Mitrofanova, the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, said that the allegations were groundless and a provocation.
In late April, Czech media reported that a man holding a Russian diplomatic passport arrived in Prague carrying a supply of ricin. Reporters speculated that the targets of the alleged assassination could be Ondrej Kolar and Zdenek Hrib, two leading city officials who are connected with the removal of the monument to the Soviet war hero Marshal Ivan Konev, who led the liberation of the city in World War II.
Moscow has dismissed the claims as false and lacking evidence. Czech President Milos Zeman has also expressed doubts that the reports about the allegedly prepared ricin attack were correct.
