RUSSIA BITES BACK!
SPY POISONING FALL-OUT
THE Kremlin has accused Britain of launching a ‘dirty attempt to discredit’ Moscow by blaming Russia for the nerve agent attack on spy Sergei Skripal.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov insisted Russia ‘is not to blame’ for the attack in Salisbury which left the former double agent and daughter Yulia in a critical condition.
His department also hit out at Britain’s ‘baseless accusations’, describing them as a ‘dirty attempt to discredit’ his country. He warned that threats of sanctions ‘will not be left without a response’.
His comments came after Vladimir Putin smirked after being asked whether Russia was responsible for the poisoning.
When asked on camera if Moscow was to blame, the Russian President smiled a little before side-stepping the question.
He then told Britain it needed to ‘get to the bottom of things there first’ before he is willing to comment on the matter.
Despicable
Theresa May said it was ‘highly likely’ Russia was involved in the ‘reckless and despicable’ poisoning of 66-year-old Skripal and his daughter, 33.
Before the Prime Minister’s remarks yesterday, Putin was asked by BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg whether Russia was responsible for the assassination attempt.
A smiling Putin replied: “Listen, we are dealing with agriculture here and as you can see our aim is to create living conditions for people – and you are talking about some tragedies.
“Get to the bottom of things there first, then we’ll discuss this.”
Meanwhile, a Russian MP compared Britain to Hitler over the nerve agent attack.
Vitaly Milonov, of the United Russia party, accused the UK of being behind a “fantasy” operation involving the poisoning of former double agent Skripal and his daughter.
The Russian MP branded the incident “fake news”, saying it was nothing to do with Moscow.
Mr Milonov told the BBC: “My personal point of view (is) that Theresa May and her colleagues they have created a fake story because they need an explanation to British people and British business why they are going to perform some anti- British steps in favour of United States policy against Russia.
“So, they had to make this fantasy. They had to kill, to try to kill, this poor pensioner, useless for us.
“This is a drama for British TV. It’s a behaviour of Hitler when he blamed someone in burning of Reichstag.”
Mr Milonov also branded Mr Skripal a “useless fake agent”.
Asked how the nerve agent came to Britain, Mr Milonov said: “This poison is 50 years old, it’s not modern stuff.
“You can take this poison from any laboratory in Ukraine or other fake countries that are happy to help you.”
He compared the situation to a James Bond movie, saying: “You created such a horror about new Russia which is very dangerous. For us, this guy is useless.”