‘The authorities of these countries should not doubt our response. It is possible that their diplomats are already beginning to find out which one of them will have to pack his or her suitcase,’ the foreign ministry spokeswoman said, according to Sputnik news agency.

Both Latvia and Estonia expelled an employee from the Russian embassies in their countries, and Lithuania expelled two.

The Czech government on Saturday denounced the alleged involvement of the Russian intelligence in the explosions that killed two people in an ammunition warehouse in Vrbetice, in the region of Zlin, in 2014.

That day it expelled 18 employees from the Russian embassy in Prague accused of being alleged agents of the Russian secret services, and on Sunday, as a response, the Russian foreign ministry declared 20 Czech employees in the Moscow embassy persona non grata.

Russia described the allegations as ‘absurd’ and considered them part of the anti-Russian sentiment that has characterized the policy of Prague in the past few years.

On Thursday, Czech Foreign Minister Yakub Kulganek called on Russia to guarantee the return of the expelled personnel to the Czech embassy in Moscow or the personnel of the Russian embassy in that nation would be reduced to five officials, following Moscow’s example.

In this regard, Zakharova described the Czech ultimatum to Russia as unacceptable.

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