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PRAGUE, May 29. /TASS/: Fifty-four employees of the Russian Embassy in the Czech Republic laid off by the Czech government have left the country on Saturday, Russian Embassy Spokesperson Nikolai Bryakin told TASS.
"The first group of 54 employees of the Russian Embassy in Prague laid off on the initiative of the Czech side, accompanied by their family members, left the territory of the Czech Republic," he said.
The second group of embassy employees and their families is set to leave the Czech Republic on May 31.
Earlier, Russia and the Czech Republic agreed on bringing to parity the number of their staff in diplomatic missions in both countries’ capitals. Each embassy will have seven diplomats and 25 administration and technical employees, as well as 19 employees hired locally.
On April 17, the Czech authorities claimed that Moscow was involved in the 2014 explosions at the Vrbetice depots in the country’s east, which killed two people. Subsequently, Prague expelled 18 Russian embassy employees, branding them intelligence officers. The Russian Foreign Ministry protested against the move and declared 20 employees of the Czech Embassy in Moscow personae non gratae.