MOSCOW – Russia on Wednesday called Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russiandiplomats over the poisoning of an ex-spy a sign that London was choosingconfrontation with Russia, adding that retaliation would follow shortly.
‘The British government made a choice for confrontation with Russia,’ theRussian foreign ministry said in a statement.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday expelled the diplomats andsuspended high-level contacts with Russia after Moscowlink>did not respond to her demand for anexplanation on how a Soviet-designed nerve agent came to be used to attackformer spy Sergei Skripal on British soil.
May said there was ‘no alternative conclusion other than that the Russianstate was culpable’ for the attack on Skripal and his daughter, who fellill from exposure to a substance called Novichok in the city of Salisburyon March 4 and are currently in hospital.
The Russian ministry said May’s statement was an ‘unprecedentedly rudeprovocation which undermines the foundations of normal bilateral dialoguebetween our countries.’
It accused London of pursuing a political agenda and choosing to ‘aggravaterelations,’ calling the announced measures ‘hostile’.
May also confirmed that neither members of the royal family nor ministerswould attend the football World Cup in Russia this year.
‘Our response measures will not be tardy,’ the Russian foreign ministrysaid. – APP/AFP