Moscow fears nothing, language of ultimatums will not work with it, Russian envoy to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov has said, commenting on the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that Russia was “highly likely” responsible for the recent nerve agent attack on Skripal as the substance used to poison Skripal and his daughter Yulia was identified as a military-grade nerve agent of the so-called Novichok group developed in Russia.
In an ultimatum to Russia, May demanded an explanation for the poisoning by the end of Tuesday and threatened to apply harsh response measures.
“Unfortunately London has chosen a language of ultimatums. I can say from the start that a language of ultimatums in relation to Russia doesn’t work.
“Russia fears nothing. It has regrets, yes. I regretted to hear the debates in the British Parliament and the official statements.
“Instead this situation should be properly sorted out, Russia should have been invited to take part in the investigation,” he told Euronews.
According to Chizhov, the UK has de facto violated the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), in accordance to which London has to provide Moscow with the necessary objective data, including the samples of this substance.
“The UK is in material breach of the International convention banning chemical weapons because after the incident it did not give Russia access to the samples.
“Russia was going to answer any suspicion within 10 days,” the diplomat added.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow officially requested samples of the suspicious substance and access to all the materials of the case, taking into consideration that Skripal’s daughter is a Russian citizen, but the UK side has refused to do that.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, said that the United Kingdom should figure things out on its own before discussing the incident with Russia.
In 2006, former officer of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate Skripal was sentenced in Russia to 13 years in prison for cooperating with the UK Secret Intelligence Service MI-6 and transferring the names of Russian intelligence agents working undercover in Europe.
Skripal was granted asylum in the United Kingdom after a US-Russia spy exchange in 2010. (Sputnik/NAN)