Russia’s foreign ministry mocked Theresa May over her conclusion that it was “highly likely” Moscow was responsible for the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

In a post on Twitter, the ministry’s official account used the hashtag #HighlyLikelyRussia – which has been used on social media as the basis of jokes for things to blame Moscow for.

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The ministry of foreign affairs’ message said “sincere thanks to Mrs May for #HighlyLikelyRussia” along with a video suggesting the country was to blame for the recent snow to fall in the UK.

The message came as the ministry – through its ambassador in London Alexander Yakovenko – faced a midnight deadline to explain how military-grade Russian nerve agent came to be used in the Salisbury incident.

The Kremlin has denied responsibility and Moscow’s response has been to appear to taunt the UK.

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Kirill Kleymenov, a presenter on Russian state TV, advised “traitors” against moving to Britain, adding: “Something is wrong there. Maybe it’s the climate, but in recent years there have been too many strange incidents with grave outcomes there.”

And another prominent broadcaster, Dmitry Kiselyov, suggested that the UK may have been behind the poisoning of the former double agent.

As a source, Mr Skripal was of little value, but “as a poisoning victim he is very useful” to harden British attitudes against Russia, he said.