EU may pack off Russian diplomats
brussels — The leaders of several EU countries said on Friday they are mulling whether to expel Russian diplomats or take other steps to support Britain following a nerve agent attack on a former spy.
European Union leaders returned to summit talks on Friday after uniting behind British Prime Minister Theresa May in blaming Russia for the attack in England, and agreeing to recall the bloc’s ambassador to Moscow for consultations. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats they said were spies, and has been pressing EU allies to follow suit despite Moscow’s warning against confrontational steps.
The leaders of former Soviet bloc EU states the Czech Republic and Lithuania, as well as Denmark and Ireland, said they were considering further unilateral steps, including expelling diplomats.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told the CTK news agency that Prague may expel several Russian diplomats over the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
“Yes, we will probably move in this direction,” Babis said.
Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said his government would decide early next week whether to expel diplomats following a security assessment. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his government heard the “strong signal” from the bloc’s leaders. —
moscow — Russia on Friday accused Britain of trying to force its allies to take “confrontational steps” after EU member states decided to recall the bloc’s envoy from Moscow and mulled further diplomatic action over a nerve attack row.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed Britain for garnering EU support over the poisoning of a former double agent, suggesting that London’s focus was now on making “the crisis with Russia as deep as possible”.
At a summit in Brussels, EU leaders united behind British Prime Minister Theresa May in blaming Russia for the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, and agreed to recall their ambassador to Moscow for consultations.
EU states are now considering whether to follow Britain’s lead in expelling Russian diplomats and Latvia said on Friday it would expel
As for the decision taken, we regret in this context that again such decisions are taken using the wording ‘highly likely’. We don’t agree with this and we repeat again that Russia absolutely definitely has nothing to do with the Skripal case Dmitry Peskov, Russian spokesman
“one or several” Russian diplomats.
“As for the decision taken, we regret in this context that again such decisions are taken using the wording ‘highly likely’,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We don’t agree with this and we repeat again that Russia absolutely definitely has nothing to do with the Skripal case.”
Russia’s top diplomat Lavrov for his part slammed Britain for “feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps”. “We still do not see any facts,” state news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying on a visit to Hanoi.
“The absence of which makes one think that all of this is a provocation, the investigation has not even been finished yet.”
May had pressed the importance of a united response to the March 4 poisoning and the EU leaders in Brussels offered her their full support, agreeing in a statement “that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation”.
The Skripals are both in a coma after being found collapsed on a park bench, although a policeman who was also contaminated was released from hospital on Thursday. —