‘We have nothing to do with it’

The Russian Embassy didn’t respond to a request for an opposing view. Excerpts from Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s answers to news media questions on Tuesday about whether Russia was involved in the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia on British soil:

According to the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons, in cases of suspected use of a toxic substance banned by the convention, the country affected should immediately address the country that is suspected of the production of this particular poisonous substance.

The query must be answered within 10 days. If the answer does not satisfy the first country (Britain in this case) it should address the OPCW Executive Council and the conference of the states party to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The side that is being asked about the substance has every right to receive an access to it so as to conduct its own analysis. We did this as soon as the rumors spread, by almost everyone in British leadership, that the substance was produced in the Russian Federation.

We sent an official note asking for access to this substance so our experts could analyze it in accordance with the convention on the prohibition of chemical weapons. In the same note, we requested access to the facts linked with the investigation, considering that one of the victims, Yulia Skripal, is a Russian national.

It is all nonsense. We have nothing to do with it. Everyone seems to be so brainwashed that our blogosphere is already full of comments that turn things upside down. Russia is not guilty.

Russia is ready to cooperate in accordance with the (chemical weapons pact), if the United Kingdom condescends to fulfill its international obligations under the same document.