Moscow summons Czech envoy

Moscow: Russia on Sunday said it would retaliate against the Czech government’s "unprecedented" decision to expel 18 Russian diplomats identified as secret agents and summoned the Czech ambassador.

"We will take retaliatory measures that will force the authors of this provocation to understand their full responsibility for destroying the basis of normal relations between our countries," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not specify which measures would be taken, but called the Czech announcement "absurd". On Saturday, Czech authorities said they would expel 18 Russian diplomats identified by local intelligence as secret agents of the Russian SVR and GRU security services suspected of involvement in a 2014 explosion.