Czechia files $2.44 million lawsuit against Russia over lease payments

The Czech Foreign Ministry said it filed a lawsuit against Russia for compensation of $2.44 million over lease payments on land in Prague and other cities used by the country's embassy.

In May, the Czech center-right government rescinded orders from the 1970s and 1980s, made by the country's then government, that granted Russia the use of dozens of plots of land free of charge, CGTN reports.

Russia would henceforth have to pay leases on the plots, the foreign ministry said after the orders were cancelled in May.

That decision marked a further deterioration of bilateral diplomatic relations that have been frosty since before Russia's conflict with Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Wednesday the lawsuit, filed in a Prague court, was for "unjust enrichment" by Russia over the past three years.