Russian foreign minister accuses UK of ‘putting decency aside’

Russia’s foreign minister has accused the UK of “putting all decency aside” over its claims that Moscow is to blame for the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Sergey Lavrov appeared to suggested that UK secret services may have been involved in the 4 March attack in Salisbury.

Mr Lavrov said it was “outrageous” that Britain had failed to provide consular access to Yulia Skripal, 33, since it emerged that her condition was improving. 0 Sergey Lavrov said the West was playing ‘children’s games’

His comments came as the Russian Embassy in London issued a series of what it termed “questions without answer” about the Skripal case – including whether the UK had ever produced the Novichok nerve agent believed to have been used in the Salisbury poisoning.

Britain has said that Russian state involvement is the only plausible explanation for the attack, and has led a worldwide reaction involving the expulsion of more than 100 diplomats.

But Mr Lavrov accused Western countries of “playing children’s games”. “Today, our Western partners, and I first of all refer to the Great Britain, the United States and some other countries, which are blindly guided by them, put all of their decency aside and resort to bold lies and fake news,” said Mr Lavrov.