Russia ousts 23 British diplomats
Recriminations over poisoning of ex-spy grow
MOSCOW — Russia on Saturday ordered 23 British diplomats to leave the country within a week, escalating a diplomatic crisis after a former Russian spy and his daughter were poisoned with a military grade nerve agent on British soil.
The order came days after Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain expelled the same number of Russian diplomats and called off high-level contacts between the two governments.
The Russians also ordered the closing of the British Council, a cultural and educational organization, in Russia, and revoked permission for the British consulate general in St. Petersburg.
The announcement came after the British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow Saturday morning.
In a statement, the Foreign Ministry cast Russia as the aggrieved party, asserting that Russia was acting “in response to the unfounded accusation against the Russian Federation for what happened in Salisbury.”
It added, “The British side is warned that, in the case of further actions of an unfriendly character toward Russia, the Russian side reserves the right to take other answering measures.”
The Kremlin delayed its response for three days until a day before national elections Sunday, for which President Vladimir Putin has campaigned while casting himself as a defender of Russia against Western aggression.
The spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were found unresponsive on a park bench in the cathedral city of Salisbury, England, after being attacked on March 4. British officials said the lethal nerve agent, Novichok, had been created in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and ’80s.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attack, even as state television announcers have referred to the poisoning as a warning to traitors.
The Russian media is portraying the poisoning of the Skripals as a plot against Russia, one intended to derail Putin’s election chances or as revenge for Britain’s having lost a bid years ago to host the World Cup soccer tournament.