Yesterday, the Russian embassy in the Czech Republic announced the detention of Russian citizen Alexander Franchetti at Prague International Airport. This was done on the basis of a request from the Ukrainian authorities.
The detention of a Russian on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Ukraine was confirmed by the press secretary of the Czech Police Presidium Ondřej Moravchik. Alexander Franchetti is being held under guard and can be transferred to Ukraine. He may be accused of participating in terrorist attacks on Ukrainian territory, a correspondent for The Moscow Post reports.
The office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said that Franchetti was wanted on suspicion of participating in the illegal armed groups "Self-Defense of Sevastopol" and "Northern Wind" and that he was arrested in absentia by the Goloseevsky District Court of Kiev.
The case of Franchetti, who was detained in Prague at the request of Ukraine, is being considered by the Prague city prosecutor's office, said a spokesman for the Czech Ministry of Justice, Volodymyr Rzepka. Further, the request of the Kiev authorities will be dealt with by the courts, which should give an opinion on the possibility of his extradition to Ukraine. Only after the courts have completed the consideration of this case, it will go to the Ministry of Justice with relevant recommendations. The final verdict will be delivered by the head of department.
Who's this guy?
According to Czech radio, Franchetti is married to a Czech citizen and works in Prague as a fitness trainer, having a permanent residence permit issued in the early 2000s. It is reported that the Czech Ministry of Internal Affairs may cancel the document.
The name of Franchetti Alexander Stalinslavovich is listed on the Peacemaker website, where Ukrainian radicals enter the names of people who participated in the events in the Crimea and Donbass. The site writes that Franchetti was part of the Defense of Sevastopol formation, and then organized the Northern Wind group, which, according to the Ukrainian website, was engaged in the "terror of the pro-Ukrainian population of the city."
After the events of 2014, Franchetti worked in Crimea as an assistant to the deputy of the local legislative assembly from United Russia Olga Khomyakova. In September 2014, Franchetti ran for deputy of the local council of Sevastopol.
Prague violates the "borders"
What could not be done last year with the assistance of the CIA in Belarus may turn out in the Czech Republic with the assistance of its authorities.
The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Nikolenko said that the detention of the Russian was the result of the work of Ukrainian and Czech law enforcement officers "to hold Alexander Franchetti accountable for committing a number of crimes against our state, in particular participation in the Russian occupation of Crimea."
The head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, instructed to check the grounds for the detention. The head of the consular department of the embassy visited the detainee. The embassy continues to be in contact with him, his relatives and a representative of the defense, "said embassy spokesman Nikolai Bryakin.
The boundaries of what is allowed, if you want, Prague violated, becoming an accomplice in the next "circus number" of Kiev. Prints of other western capitals may appear in the incident. In the center of the flaring scandal is the Crimean peninsula and Sevastopol as part of the Russian Federation. When the destroyer Defender violated the border of the Russian Federation in the Crimea region, a "visible and audible" warning followed.
The warning to Prague and Kiev should be formidable and short, like a shot at the course of a British destroyer in the waters of Russia near the Crimea! This is the only way to think about Zelensky and his accomplices in this provocation.
Who benefits from this
The Czech authorities in this situation are complicit in the provocation. Deploying a campaign against Russia, the Czech Republic diverts attention from US provocations in Belarus. This was stated in the Federation Council. Vladimir Dzhabarov, First Deputy of the Federation Council Committee on International Policy, said that Prague "either diverts the attention of the world community from a more important event, or it is done out of a sense of solidarity with NATO partners." According to the senator, the catalyst could be information about attempts on the president of Belarus and his family. To divert attention from Washington, a senior NATO partner, the Czech Republic took the initiative.
"The Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. We expect an operational reaction from the Czech side to our appeals and answers to the questions posed, "the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Maria Zakharova also pointed out that Prague's continuation of the destructive line in relations will lead to their further degradation and will not go unanswered.
Earlier, Prague accused the Russian special services of involvement in the explosion at the weapons depot in Vrbetice in 2014. The Russian Foreign Ministry then emphasized that the United States is behind this information campaign, that the statements of the Czech side can be perceived as "lies and fakes." In April, the Czech Foreign Ministry sent 18 employees of the Russian embassy. As a result, the Czech embassy in Moscow lost 20 diplomats, the country was on the list of "unfriendly" states.
"Russia wants to find out what is charged with its citizen," said Sergey Lavrov, commenting on the detention of Alexander Franchetti. "Maybe this is a fight against neo-Nazis in the person of the so-called volunteer battalions, which even in the West are recognized as illegal? We want to understand what is in question, and we hope that the Czech authorities will strictly follow the principles of legality and will not succumb to political provocations, "the minister added.