Czech intelligence says it busted Russian spying network

The Czech Republic's intelligence agency said Friday it had smashed a Russian spying network, after the EU member's pro-Russian, pro-Chinese president had criticised it for poor results.

The BIS agency had warned earlier this week that Russian and Chinese diplomats had intensified their espionage activities on Czech soil last year.

This led President Milos Zeman, an outspoken ex-Communist, to say Thursday that the report was "gibberish" while intelligence agents were "pettifoggers" who had not identified any specific Russian or Chinese spies.

On Friday, BIS chief Michal Koudelka said that earlier this year the agency had told the authorities it reports to that "we had bust the spying network of a Russian intelligence service operating on our territory and paralysed its activity."