Moscow is ‘concealing truth in haystack of lies’
BORIS Johnson has accused Russia of trying to conceal “the needle of truth in a haystack of lies” over the Salisbury spy poisoning.
Arriving for a meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels, the Foreign Secretary said Moscow’s denials over the incident were “increasingly absurd” as he accused the Kremlin of changing its story regarding the Novichok nerve agent Britain says was used in the attack.
The gathering of the EU Foreign Affairs Council declared its “unqualified solidarity” for the UK over the incident.
Mr Johnson said: “Today the technical experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons are arriving in the UK to take the samples from Salisbury, and meantime the Russian denials grow increasingly absurd.
“At one time they say that they never made Novichok, and at another time they say they did make Novichok, but all the stocks have been destroyed but some of them have mysteriously escaped to Sweden, or the Czech Republic, or Slovakia, or the United States, or even the United Kingdom.
“I think what people can see is that this is a classic Russian strategy of trying to conceal the needle of truth in a haystack of lies and obfuscation.”
In a joint statement, the Foreign Affairs Council said: “The European Union takes extremely seriously the UK Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Rus- sian Federation is responsible. The Union calls on Russia to address urgently the questions raised by the UK and the international community and to provide immediate, full and complete disclosure of its Novichok programme to the OPCW.
“The European Union expresses its unqualified solidarity with the UK and its support, including for the UK’s efforts to bring those responsible for this crime to justice.”
The move came as Russia’s Tass news agency reported the Kremlin is insisting the UK either backs up its “unfounded allegations” regarding Moscow’s involvement in the Salisbury attack, or apologises.
This followed Vladimir Putin’s dismissal of claims of Russia being behind the Salisbury spy poisoning as “nonsense” as he was re-elected president.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia would have died instantly if they had been attacked with a nerve agent, the leader said as he celebrated the start of another sixyear term.