The mayor of Prague said he is under constant police protection after a report that he and another official were likely targets of a Russian poisoning plot.
Mayor Zdenek Hrib said Monday he has been under protection for weeks after police discovered a threat against him, but he did not give further details.
“First of all, I must say that this is a risk to my life,” he told a Russian radio station. “At the request of the police, I can’t talk about the measures taken and how it was discovered that an attempt was being made on me.”
Hrib said his house has been surrounded by security, and he is no longer able to commute to work via public transportation.
Last week, Czech magazine Respekt reported a suspected Russian intelligence agent had recently traveled to the Czech capital on a diplomatic passport with a suitcase containing ricin. The suspected intelligence agent was there to assassinate Hrib and another politician Ondrej Kolar, the publication reported, citing anonymous sources in Czech intelligence.
Czech law enforcement has not commented on the alleged plot.
“We took note of an article in the Czech magazine Respekt, which actually accuses the Russian side of plotting assaults on lives of Prague municipal politicians. The Russian embassy in the Czech Republic categorically denies such flagrant and false allegations,” the Russian Embassy in Prague said in a statement.
Hrib and his colleague have been critical of Russia. The Prague City Council voted in February to rename the square in front of the Russian Embassy after slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov. The move marked the fifth anniversary of Nemtsov’s death.
The Russian Embassy changed its official address to avoid the reference to Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin in 2015.
Kolar played a role in the removal of a statue commemorating Ivan Konev, a Soviet-era general, which led to protests from the embassy.
