Russia to expel British diplomats in reaction to spy poison claims
▶ Move follows measures over the nerve agent attack on former spy and daughter in London
Russia will expel British diplomats in retaliation against London’s response to the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter.
Moscow yesterday called in the British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, and informed him that 23 envoys from the UK were “persona non grata” and would be sent home.
On March 4, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent that was developed in the USSR in an attack the UK has blamed on Russia.
Moscow said it was deporting the ambassadors because of Britain’s “provocative actions” and “baseless accusations over the incident in Salisbury”.
Russia said it was also halting the activities of the British Council, Britain’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, across the country.
Its foreign ministry warned that “if further unfriendly actions are taken towards Russia, the Russian side retains the right to take other answering measures”.
London said officials would meet next week to consider the next steps.
“Russia’s response doesn’t change the facts of the matter – the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable,” the UK Foreign Office said.
After his meeting with Russian Foreign Ministry officials, Mr Bristow said: “This crisis has arisen as a result of an appalling attack in the United Kingdom, the attempted murder of two people, using a chemical weapon developed in Russia and not declared by Russia at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as Russia was and is obliged to do under the Chemical Weapons Convention.”
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Friday said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Vladimir Putin directed the use of the nerve agent on the streets of Britain.
Mr Johnson’s comments prompted a sharp rebuke from Mr Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
“Any reference or mentioning of our president is nothing else but shocking and unpardonable diplomatic misconduct,” Mr Peskov said.
Russia yesterday announced it would expel 23 British diplomats and halt the activities of the British Council in response to London’s measures over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter.
“Twenty three diplomatic staff at the British embassy in Moscow are declared persona non grata and are to be expelled within a week,” the foreign ministry said after summoning British ambassador Laurie Bristow.
Moscow said the move was in response to Britain’s “provocative actions” and “baseless accusations over the incident in Salisbury on March 4”, referring to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal with a nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, which Britain has blamed on Russia.
Russia said it was halting the activities of the British Council, Britain’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, across the country.
“Due to the unregulated status of the British Council in Russia, its activity is halted,” the foreign ministry said.
And the ministry warned Britain that “if further unfriendly actions are taken towards Russia, the Russian side retains the right to take other answering measures”.
Britain said it anticipated a response of this kind and officials would meet next week to consider the next steps.
“Russia’s response doesn’t change the facts of the matter – the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable,” the UK Foreign Office said.
After being summoned to the Russian foreign ministry, Mr Bristow said: “We will always do what is necessary to defend ourselves, our allies and our values against an attack of this sort.”
He described the poisoning of Mr Skripal and his daughter, which Britain has said involved a nerve agent known as novichok,
as an “attack not only on the United Kingdom but upon the international rules-based system on which all countries, including Russia, depend for their safety and security”.
“This crisis has arisen as a result of an appalling attack in the United Kingdom, the attempted murder of two people, using a chemical weapon developed in Russia and not declared by Russia at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, as Russia was and is obliged to do under
the Chemical Weapons Convention,” Mr Bristow said.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Friday said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Vladimir Putin directed the use of the nerve agent on the streets of Britain.
His comments prompted a rebuke from Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Any reference or mentioning of our president is nothing else but shocking and unpardonable diplomatic misconduct,” Mr Peskov said.
A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman denied that Russia had developed novichok, the existence of which was disclosed by a Russian scientist in the 1990s.
Besides revealing details of the secret programme, he also published the formula for the nerve agent. But Russia maintains it has never made it.
Speaking on Russia-24 television yesterday the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, said Britain’s angry reaction was connected to the war in Syria.
Ms Zakharova said Britain was taking a tough line because of frustration at recent advances of Russian-backed Syrian government forces against western-backed rebels.
British investigators yesterday appealed for witnesses who could help to reconstruct the Skripals’ movements in the hours before they were found unconscious. Mr Skripal and his daughter remain in critical condition in hospital.
Police have also announced they were treating the death of another Russian exile as murder. Nikolai Glushkov was found dead at his south London home on Monday, eight days after the attack on Mr Skripal. He died from “compression to the neck”, police said.
Mr Glushkov was a close friend of Vladimir Putin’s arch-enemy Boris Berezovsky, who died in exile in 2013 at his mansion near London.
Detectives said that there was nothing to suggest a link between Mr Glushkov’s death and that of Mr Skripal.
Police have started to contact other Russian exiles to discuss their safety after a reassessment by security services, the BBC reported.