Czech president asks spy service to see if Novichok was produced locally
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PRAGUE - Czech President Milos Zeman has ordered the country's counter-intelligence service to see if the type of nerve agent used in an attack in Britain could have been made in the Czech Republic.
Zeman's request to look into whether the Czechs produced the nerve agent Novichok was announced by his spokesman after the president met the head of the BIS counter-intelligence service.
"The president has tasked the BIS to find out whether or not the nerve gas 'Novichok' was developed or stored on the Czech Republic's territory, be it at industrial or scientific facilities," Zeman's spokesman said in a statement.
The spokesman later said on Twitter, in reaction to a news website headline that interpreted the decision as siding with Russia: "Fake news. The tasking of BIS is a reaction to Russia's repeated allegations against the Czech Republic."
