During an televised interview broadcast on TV Barrandov, the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman (see photo), has indicated that he commissioned his secret services to produce a report on the Russian allegation that it was probably his country that had produced Novichok, the same substance used in Salisbury to poison the Russian agent Serguei Skripal and his daughter, Julia.

“We must conclude that our country has produced and tested an [agent of the class] Novichok, although [it had been produced] only in small quantities and then destroyed (…) It would be sheer hypocrisy on our part to claim that this was not the case (…) We do not need to lie”, he declared.

According to the military intelligence services, the poison was probably produced at the Institute for military research at Brno in November 2017, under code name A230.

In the first instance, the Prime Minister, Andrej Babiš, had violently denied that his country could have produced the type of substance used in the Skripal Affair. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, had concluded from this that Russia had lied and that she, Russia, was guilty of attempting to poison Sergueï Skripal.

President Miloš Zeman is a lone voice in the European Union. He is the only head of State taking a position against the sanctions against both Syria and Russia.