LONDON – Russia hit back at Britain in the spy poisoning row on Monday,demanding proof of its alleged involvement in a nerve agent attack, asinternational weapons experts arrived to take samples of the toxicsubstance.
The March 4 poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal, which tookplace just two weeks ahead of Russia’s presidential poll in which VladimirPutin was re-elected, has plunged relations between London and Moscow intocrisis.
As the European Union offered Britain its “unqualified solidarity”, theKremlin demanded London either come up with proof of Russia’s involvement– or apologise.
“Sooner or later these unsubstantiated allegations will have to be answeredfor: either backed up with the appropriate evidence or apologised for,”said Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Putin himself on Sunday rejected as “complete drivel, rubbish, nonsense”the allegations by London and its allies that Russia was behind the attackon Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury.
Speaking in Brussels alongside British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson onMonday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s response hadso far “demonstrated a clear disregard for international peace andsecurity”.
– ‘Pattern of behaviour’ –
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday repeated her belief thatRussia was responsible.
“They have the capability. This nerve agent was one from a group ofNovichoks that were developed by the Soviets,” she said while visitingBirmingham.
“Russia has the capability and, I believe, the motive and intent and thisis part of a pattern of behaviour we see from Russia across Europe,” shesaid.
Britain has pointed to the 2006 radiation poisoning of former spy andKremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London — blamed on Moscow — andRussian activity in Crimea and Ukraine.
Britain, France, Germany and the United States issued a joint statementlast week blaming Russia for the attack, the first offensive use ofchemical weapons in Europe since World War II.
EU foreign ministers on Monday offered Britain their full support, althoughsources say some states have been reluctant to put pressure on Moscow overthe incident.
“The European Union takes extremely seriously the UK government’sassessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation isresponsible,” they said.
The nerve agent attack is expected to be discussed at an EU summit inBrussels starting on Thursday.
Russia’s foreign ministry issued a statement Monday saying it was”perplexed by the extreme haste EU members have considered… the Britishinventions over Russia’s involvement in the tragic incident in Salisbury.
“We regret that the EU, by omitting obvious facts and considerations, hasonce again fallen victim to ‘European solidarity’ and accumulatedanti-Russian reflexes.”
– Putin defiant –
Skripal, a former Russian officer who sold secrets to Britain and movedthere in a 2010 spy swap, remains in critical condition along with hisdaughter after they were found unconscious on a park bench.
Investigators from the international Organisation for the Prohibition ofChemical Weapons (OPCW) arrived in Britain on Monday to collect samples ofthe nerve agent used.
They will meet officials from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratoryat Porton Down, where the chemical was identified as the Soviet-designedNovichok.
They will also meet police before sending samples to internationallaboratories for testing, with results expected to take at least two weeks,according to British officials.
Britain last week announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats,prompting a tit-for-tat response from Moscow. Britain also announced aboycott by members of the royal family and ministers of this summer’s WorldCup football tournament in Russia.
The US, France and Germany have also called for Russia to fully disclosedetails of its Novichok programme to the OPCW, a demand also backed by theEU foreign ministers.
French President Emmanuel Macron repeated Monday that Moscow should “shedlight on the responsibilities for the unacceptable attack in Salisbury, andto firmly regain control of any programmes that have not been declared” tothe OPCW.
But his first direct comments on the incident, after winning a fourth termin Russia’s election on Sunday, Putin was defiant.
“We have destroyed all chemical weapons,” he said, pledging that Russia wasready to cooperate in the investigation.
On Sunday, Britain’s Johnson accused Moscow of stockpiling the nerve agentover the last ten years in violation of the international Chemical WeaponsConvention.
But Moscow has suggested that Britain itself may have been the source ofthe chemical, along with Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Sweden — whostrongly denied it. – APP /AFP