Vlasta Juricek via flickr.com

Czech police have detained five individuals on terrorism-related suspicions connected to fighting on the side of Russian proxy forces in eastern Ukraine, local prosecutors said April 21.

The group have not yet been charged but were taken into custody on suspicion of terrorist acts, financing terrorism, and supporting terrorism, Reuters reports.

Read alsoCzech man on trial for siding with terrorists in DonbasPublic Czech Radio reported, citing information from the investigation, that the arrests targeted a paramilitary group and that one of its members had fought against the Ukrainian government troops and upon his return had raised money to send others.

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Several other Czechs have faced trial in the past connected to the fighting in Donbas.

Czech-Russian diplomatic row: Background

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš announced there were well-founded suspicions of the involvement of Russian special services in the explosion of an ammunition storage facility in the Czech Republic in 2014.

The Czech Foreign Ministry expelled 18 Russian diplomats believed to be intelligence operatives in retaliation for the explosion, which killed two people.

The Czech police put on the wanted list two Russian citizens who used passports in the name of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov during their visit to Prague and the Zlín District on October 11-16, 2014.

Kyiv has supported the decision taken by the Czech Republic to expel Russian diplomats.

In a retaliation move, Russia expelled 20 Czech diplomats – the move Prague protested as "inappropriate reaction", demanding that Moscow allow them to return or face tit-for-tat expulsions, according to Euronews.

Amid the diplomatic row, Prague is no longer considering purchases of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

Also, Russia's Rosatom nuclear giant has been thrown out of the competition for a new power unit at the Dukovany nuclear power plant, as per Reuters.