UK EXPELS 23 RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS
London, March 14: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday held Russia responsible for the nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter as she expelled 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level bilateral contact. Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found collapsed after being poisoned last week. Both remain in a serious condition along with a police officer who came in contact with the same substance.
Russia denies being involved in the attempted murder of the former spy and his daughter.
“The Russian state was culpable of the attempted murder” of spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Ms May told lawmakers.
She said Britain will suspend high-level bilateral contact with Russia and revoke an invitation to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to visit the UK.
The Prime Minister announced that Britain will expel 23 Russian diplomats, saying they have one week to leave the UK. She identified those diplomats as “undeclared intelligence officers”, BBC reported.
RUSSIAN FOREIGN minister Sergei Lavrov has accused UK of “playing politics” and ignoring an agreement on chemical weapons.
London, March 14: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday held Russia responsible for the nerve agent attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter as she expelled 23 Russian diplomats and suspended high-level bilateral contact.
Moscow, which had been given an ultimatum to provide a “credible response” over how a Russian-made nerve agent came to be used on British soil, had warned of “an equal and opposite reaction” against any UK reprisals.
The reprisals follow days of diplomacy since May first informed Parliament that there was enough evidence to conclude that it is “highly likely” that Russia is behind the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury on March 4.
“Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations; the government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal,” she had said.
US President Donald Trump, as well as North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and European Union allies including Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, have since come out in support of the UK and offered support.
Russia, however, has insisted that it is being blamed unfairly, with the Russian embassy in the UK tweeting that the ambassador, who had been summoned to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office for an explanation, had branded the actions of the UK authorities as a “clear provocation”. — Agencies