Kremlin:

UK Unwilling to Admit Absence of Chemical Weapons in Russia

TEHRAN (defapress)- Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the United Kingdom is unwilling to accept the absence of chemical weapons in Russia in the situation around the poisoning of former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, who worked for the UK intelligence, in the English city of Salisbury.

News ID: 69347

Date: 23 March 2018 - 18:15

The Spokesman stressed that Russia had destroyed its entire arsenal of the chemical weapons as it had been confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). He also noted that UK Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow had not attended a briefing for the foreign ambassadors in Russia convened by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sputnik reported.

“We have not seen Ambassador of Great Britain there. If Britain has questions, in this case, why would not the British Ambassador come and hear the answers? As if they are asking questions not willing to get any answers. As if they ask questions having judgments prior to that. This is extremely unfair. This is extremely contradictory with international law, international principles of behavior and diplomacy. This is unwillingness to see the reality, I mean, the absence of chemical weapons in Russia,” Peskov said in an interview with RT news channel.

The conspiracy theories about Russia’s alleged motives in the Skripal's poisoning are “artificially constructed”, Kremlin Spokesman stated.

“These are artificially constructed theories. First, we have to remember, the starting point is words of President [Vladimir] Putin that Russia has nothing to do with this accident,” Peskov said in an interview with RT broadcaster when asked by a journalist about conspiracy theories about Russia’s alleged motives in the poisoning of Skripal.

The Spokesman stressed that the United Kingdom’s claims were “crazy”, explaining his position through a comparison that he admitted being “very rude”, noting, nonetheless, that nothing “can be ruder than the reality.”

“Just imagine – Moscow city, a car accident, there’s a victim in the car accident. And we see what was the car. The car was a British-made car. Let’s say, a Range Rover. And just imagine, that myself or the Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman [Maria Zakharova] makes a statement that a man was killed by a British-made car in a car accident in the center of Moscow and highly likely Prime Minister of Great Britain [Theresa May] may be responsible for that murder,” Peskov said.

The Spokesman expressed regrets that the EU had decided to recall its Ambassador to Russia over the Skripal poisoning case.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also commented on the situation, saying that Russia had not seen any hard evidence to substantiate United Kingdom's allegations on the Skripal poisoning, so the accusations seemed like a provocation.

"We are still not seeing any facts. The lack thereof makes one think that all of this is a provocation, the investigation has not even finished yet," Lavrov told reporters.

London is busy trying to coax its allies into taking "confrontational steps", according to the diplomat.

"The goal is to make the crisis [in the relations] with Russia as deep as possible," the Minister added.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia have been in hospital in a critical condition since March 4 and are being treated for exposure to what the UK experts believe to be the A234 nerve agent.

The UK side claimed that this substance was related to the Novichok class nerve agents developed in the Soviet Union.

UK Prime Minister has accused Russia of orchestrating the attack on the former intelligence officer and expelled 23 Russian diplomats as a punitive measure.

The European Council has sided with London in claiming that it is "highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation" and condemned the incident as a "grave challenge to our shared security."

Russia has strongly rejected the accusations and offered assistance in the investigation. However, Moscow's request for samples of the chemical substance used to poison Skripal was denied.

Moscow has also expelled UK diplomats and ordered the British Council to stop its activities in Russia in response to the UK expulsion of Russian diplomats.