According to the newspaper Lidové noviny on Monday, it is his alleged role in the organization of the explosion that is now the focus of the investigation.

Shaposhnikov,

who now lives in Greece, worked as a consultant for Imex Group.

It was at the warehouse belonging to it that an explosion took place, as a result of which two people died and a lot of damage was caused.

Lidové noviny, citing its sources, claims that shortly before the explosion, Shaposhnikov passed on information about the ammunition stored in Verbetitsy to Major General Andrey Avyaryanov, the head of the

Russian

GRU military intelligence agents,

Anatoly Chapiga

and

Alexander Mishkin

, who, after receiving the information, used false names. entered the Czech Republic and, according to the Czech investigation, blew up the warehouse.

Also, as previously reported, it was Shapashnikov who sent the warehouse owner an e-mail indicating the days when the GRU agents posing as inspectors from Tajikistan and Moldova would arrive in Verbetica.

On October 4, 2014, according to the publication, Avyaryanov met with Shaposhnikov in Portugal, after which he returned to Moscow.

On October 7, tickets were purchased for Chapiga and Mishkin, who arrived in Prague on October 11.

On October 16, there was an explosion in Verbetitsy, on the same day both agents and Avaryanov, who was in Vienna at that time, flew to Moscow.

As noted by Lidové noviny, Chapig and Mishkin have still not been formally charged in the Czech Republic, as the investigation, according to the available information, has no confirmation that they were in Verbetice.

Shapashnikov's daughter confirmed that he himself, together with his relatives, met with Avyaryanov in Portugal.

She described it as an ordinary meeting of tourist acquaintances.

Shapashnikov himself, who testified in the case, said that he did not know who the two "inspectors" really were.

The investigation, however, believes that he hid the truth.

Czech authorities announced suspicions against Russian military intelligence agents in mid-April 2021.

It is assumed that the purpose of the explosions was ammunition, which was intended for delivery abroad, possibly to Ukraine.

The Czech Republic sent an unprecedented number of employees of the Russian embassy, ​​Russia responded in kind.

Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the relations between Prague and Moscow sharply worsened.

Russia categorically denies the accusations of involvement in the explosions.

Chapiga and Mishkin are the same GRU officers accused by British authorities, under the names "Petrova" and "Bashirov", of the

2018 assassination attempt on

Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.