Moscow calls for high-level talks with UK over poisonings
The Russian embassy in London has called for a meeting between ambassador Alexander Yakovenko and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to discuss the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury.
“Unfortunately, the current state of the Foreign Office interaction with the embassy is utterly unsatisfactory,” the Russian embassy said on its website.
“We believe that it is high time to arrange a meeting between [the two] to discuss the whole range of bilateral issues, as well as the investigation of the Salisbury incident.
“We hope that the British side will engage constructively and that such meeting is arranged shortly.”
Russia expert Martin McCauley said a high-level meeting would be a step forward.
“Up to the present it has been a dialogue of the deaf, with the Russians saying one thing and then Britain saying the opposite, and no communication whatsoever between the two governments or the foreign secretaries,” Mr McCauley said. “So it is a step forward.”
If a meeting were to take place Mr Johnson would probably repeat the British view that novichok, the nerve agent thought to have been used in the poisoning of the former Russian double agent and his daughter, was made in Russia, to which the Russians would disagree, he said.
“The Russians always deny that they are responsible,” Mr McCauley said.
Mr Skripal is “improving rapidly” after being poisoned on March 4.
“He is responding well to treatment, improving rapidly and is no longer in a critical condition,” Christine Blanshard, medical director at Salisbury District Hospital, said on Friday.
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury. Ms Skripal is also still in hospital.
The UK has blamed Russia for the chemical attack, although scientists have not been able to identify Russia as the source of the nerve agent.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s position has been supported by more than 20 mostly European countries that plan to expel Russian diplomats.