Russia, UK trade barbs over ex-spy poisoning

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivering a speech in Moscow on March 18, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

Russia and the UK have engaged in a war of words over allegations of Moscow’s role in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter using a nerve agent in a British town, with President Putin dismissing the claims as “nonsense” and “absurd.”

Putin said on Monday in his first public address after his landslide victory in the presidential election that Russia has been falsely accused of poisoning the Skripals, who were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury on March 4.

They remain critically ill in a British hospital

Britain has said that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by the Soviet-era ‘Novichok’ nerve agent.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of stockpiling the banned nerve to use for terror operations.

“I found out about it from the media,” Putin told reporters asking him about the poisoning. “The first thing that entered my head was that if it had been a military-grade nerve agent, the people would have died on the spot.

“Secondly, Russia does not have such (nerve) agents. We destroyed all our chemical weapons under the supervision of international organizations, and we did it first, unlike some of our partners who promised to do it, but unfortunately did not keep their promises,” he added.

Russia believes Number 10 Downing Street launched this terror operation with the double aim of distracting the UK public’s attention from the Brexit fiasco and creating a united international front against Moscow.

Putin further said, “To claim that Russia would do anything like that before the [presidential] elections and the World Cup is nonsense and absurd,” adding, however that Moscow is willing to cooperate in the investigation to find out who really poisoned the Skripals.

“We are ready to cooperate, we said that straight away, we are ready to take part in the necessary investigations, but for that there needs be a desire from the other side, and we don’t see that yet. But we are not taking it off the agenda, joint efforts are possible,” Putin said, noting that Moscow was ready “to discuss any issues and overcome any difficulties” with London.

Responding to Putin on Monday, the UK foreign secretary said Russia’s denials in the case are “increasingly absurd,” claiming that “this is a classic Russian strategy ... They’re not fooling anybody anymore.”

Bring on evidence or apologize!

Later in the day, the Kremlin’s spokesman said London would either have to back up its assertions about Russia with evidence or apologize “sooner or later.”

Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters that Britain’s allegations were “difficult to explain... groundless and slanderous.”

EU backs UK against Russia

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers, who had gathered for their monthly meeting in Brussels on Monday, strongly condemned the attack and said they take London’s allegations “extremely seriously”

The EU called on “Russia to address urgently the questions raised by the UK and the international community and to provide immediate, full and complete disclosure of its Novichok program to the OPCW,” read the statement.

The bloc further voiced “its unqualified solidarity with the UK and its support, including for the UK’s efforts to bring those responsible for this crime to justice.”

New German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, however, reminded other FMs on Sunday that despite the tensions with Russia, Moscow needed to remain as its partner. “The EU states must be able to continue to talk to Russia, despite a host of issues,” he said.

Moscow has requested samples of the nerve agent allegedly used in the incident to be provided to Russia for its own investigation, but London has rejected the call.

British investigators have accused Moscow of being the sole-producer of Novichok

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement, saying the substance used in the attack could have originated from the countries studying the “Novichok” nerve agent, including the UK, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Sweden.