Russia’s ambassador to London has suggested the Government is using the Salisbury poisoning case to divert attention from Brexit.
Alexander Yakovenko said that Britain had put its weight behind an “anti-Russian campaign” as it tried to establish a new place for itself within Western society after EU withdrawal.
Speaking to the Russian state-funded RT television network, the ambassador denounced Britain’s decision to expel 23 diplomats as “unacceptable and unjustified”.
He repeated Moscow’s demands for samples of the nerve agent believed to have been used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal, as well as for consular access to the two Russian nationals.
READ MORE: UK braced for Russian retaliation as Western powers close ranks
Mr Yakovenko said it was “suspicious” that information about the case, including photographs of the victims, had not yet been released.
“All the investigation about the Skripals is classified,” he told RT. “We don’t have any information, we don’t have any access.
“Nobody saw even the pictures of these people in a hospital – whether they are alive or maybe they are in good health. Nobody talked to the doctors. There is absolutely no transparency in the case, and this worries us.”
Mr Yakovenko said that under the Vienna Convention, Russia should be granted consular access to its citizens, adding: “Basically, Britain doesn’t respect international law and the way they are behaving puts a lot of questions.”
The ambassador said the incident came amid an “anti-Russian campaign” by the UK authorities which saw his country identified as an enemy in last year’s national security review and in a high-profile speech by Theresa May.
“Britain in new circumstances is trying to find its new place in Western society, because they are leaving the EU,” he said.
“The key organisation is Nato and Britain is trying to find a place and they found it in the so-called anti-Russian campaign.”
He added: “There is one more reason for diverting the attention of the British public, which is Brexit, because the situation in negotiations is not so easy … In order to divert attention from Brexit, they have to present something to the public that could move a little bit to the other side.
“That’s a great possibility to launch this anti-Russian campaign. This is a scenario that was written in London but it’s a short-sighted scenario because, in the long run, Britain will have to explain what is behind all these things in Salisbury.”
READ MORE: UK braced for Russian retaliation as Western powers close ranks
Mr Yakovenko said that Britain should “explain what they are doing in this secret chemical laboratory” at Porton Down, which he said was only a few miles from the site of the Salisbury attack.
He said Russia continued to press for samples of the nerve agent identified by British scientists to be handed over to Moscow and to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for verification.
“We want to clarify all the questions behind this provocation,” he said.
Mr Yakovenko said the expulsion of 40% of his diplomatic staff would make the activities of the London embassy “quite difficult”, adding: “This really hurts Russia-Britain relations.”
He condemned Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson’s call for Russia to “go away and shut up” as “shocking”.
He said Moscow continued to want “constructive co-operation” with the UK and would respond with “strategic patience”.
READ MORE: UK braced for Russian retaliation as Western powers close ranks
But he added: “We are right, we know what we are doing, and the time will come when the people of Britain will understand that they have maybe to have another government or other people who have a better policy towards Russia.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel