PRAGUE — Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek has announced the equal number of diplomats that will be allowed by Prague and Moscow at their embassies as tensions between the two escalate over Russia’s alleged role in a deadly 2014 explosion at a Czech arms depot.

“[The Czech Republic’s and Russia’s embassies] should have seven diplomats and 25 administrative and technical staff each,” Kulhanek said in an interview with Czech daily Blesk.

Kulhanek’s clarification came a day after he said that Russia won’t be allowed to have more diplomats in Prague than the Czechs currently have at their embassy in Moscow, following Russia’s expulsion of Czech diplomats in a retaliatory move.

The row flared on April 17 when Prague expelled 18 Russian staff, whom it identified as spies.

The Czechs said two Russian intelligence officers accused of a nerve-agent poisoning in Britain in 2018 were also behind an explosion at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014 that killed two people.

Russia has denied the Czech accusations and on April 18 ordered out 20 Czech staff in retaliation.

On April 22, Moscow ignored a deadline to allow the expelled Czech diplomats’ return to work by noon. Moscow had called the ultimatum “unacceptable.”

“We will cut the number of diplomats at the Russian Embassy in Prague to match the number of our staff at the embassy in Moscow,” Kulhanek told a news briefing on April 22 after the deadline had passed, adding that Russia had until the end of May to recall its staff.

With reporting by Blesk.cz, Reuters, and TASS