Russia: Where’s your proof of poison plot?
Embassy demands photos of ex-spy and daughter in new stand- off
RUSSIA faced fresh condemnation last night after it demanded that Britain reveal top-secret answers to 41 ‘very precise’ questions about the spy poisoning saga.
The Russian Embassy in London accused the British Government of breaching diplomatic rules by refusing to provide detailed information about the health of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and asked for proof that they were attacked by a nerve agent.
President Vladimir Putin’s regime has insisted it has the right to visit Miss Skripal, who is recovering in hospital while her former double agent father remains critically ill nearly a month after they were found collapsed in Salisbury.
Putting further pressure on the UK last night, Russia:
Threatened to impose thorough searches on every British plane that lands on its territory, after UK Border Force officials searched a Russian passenger plane at Heathrow Airport on Friday evening.
Doubled to 50 the number of British diplomats it is expelling.
Linked the alleged murder of Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov in London on March 12 to UK ‘irresponsibility’.
Offered to pay for a relative of the Skripals to visit them in hospital.
Alexander Yakovenko, Russian Ambassador to London, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The provocation in Salisbury, and the murder of Glushkov, as we understand it now, plus what happened in Heathrow – this is all one chain.
‘ We will, of course, carefully study it, but one conclusion can already be made: that the British side i n this situation behaves incredibly irresponsibly.’
Salisbury MP and Treasury Minister John Glen said: ‘Once again, despite almost universal condemnation, the Russian state refuses to acknowledge wrongdoing.
‘Instead we see another ill-judged and cynical attempt to take the focus off the culpability of the Kremlin and President Putin.’
Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were struck down on March 4. Det Sgt Nick Bailey was also exposed to the nerve agent but has been discharged from hospital.
Theresa May declared that the Russian state was responsible for the attempted murders, and expelled 23 alleged spies based at the Russian Embassy. The Prime Minister’s move was backed by the co-ordinated expulsion of more than 150 Russians from its missions across the West. Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning.
The search of the Aeroflot plane on Friday was described as ‘routine’, but Russian Embassy officials called it a ‘blatant provocation’.
A spokesman for Russia’s ministry of transport said: ‘If there is no explanation, the Russian side will deem the actions as illegal and also reserve the right to take similar action against British airlines.’ Moscow has expelled 23 British diplomats and yesterday said a total of more than 50 must leave.
The Russian Embassy initially posted 27 ‘unanswered questions’ about the poisoning online.
Late last night it posted another 14, for the first time claiming that French experts were involved in the investigation. It asked ‘on what grounds has France been involved in technical co-operation’.
Yulia Skripal’s cousin Viktoria hopes to visit her and was last night waiting for a visa. But Natalia Skripal, a cousin of Sergei, said: ‘We don’t want to be a political pawn.’
After Russia said it had the right to visit Miss Skripal the Foreign Office said it was ‘considering the request for consular access’.