Contents tagged with Sergei Skripal

  • Russia says UK authorities 'staged' poisoning of Skripal

    The Russian Ministry of the Interior said that UK authorities themselves may have “staged” the attack on former intelligence agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were poisoned in Salisbury.

    This was stated by the director of the Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control of the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Ermakov, reported Nastoyashaya Vremya.

    “Here, elementary logic suggests only two possible options: the British authorities either are not able to provide protection …

  • Russian diplomats leave UK on plane involved in cocaine case

    On Tuesday March 20, the Russian diplomats who were expelled from London due to the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter left the UK on the Il-96 aircraft featured in the Argentine cocaine scandal, Evropeiska Pravda reports.

    A British TV channel published photographs from the Stansted airport, where the 23 Russian diplomats and their families boarded a plane to leave the country.

    Interestingly, the diplomats were sent to Moscow on an Il-96 plane with hull number RA-96023 which belongs …

  • NATO Secretary General calls on Russia to disclose the Novichok program

    NATO called on Russia to fully disclose the details of their “Novichok” nerve agent program,reported the press-service of the North Atlantic Alliance. British authorities stated that Novichok was used to poison the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. 

    “NATO continues to call on Russia to fully disclose the data of the Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW),” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated at a joint press conference with British …

  • Poland considers deporting Russian diplomats after poisoning of Skripal

    Poland may expel Russian diplomats from its territory in solidarity with the actions taken by Britain after an attempt on the life of Sergei Skripal, a former Colonel for the Russian intelligence service.

    The decision may be taken very soon, writes Polskie Radio, citing Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. The newspaper also referred to sources in the government.

    According to the publication, the decision will depend greatly on the decisions taken Monday in Brussels at a meeting of the European Union’s …

  • Britain denies Russian diplomats access to Skripal

    Great Britain has denied Russian diplomats access to former intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, who is in the hospital after being poisoned with the nerve-paralyzing agent Novichok, Interfax reports.

    The Russian embassy in London stated that Skripal is being treated as a British citizen.

    The Russian diplomatic mission said that they requested consular access to both Skripal and his daughter Yulia (a Russian citizen).

    Russian diplomat to Great Britain Alexander Yakovenko said that Skripal …

  • Attempt on Skripal threatens Gazprom’s business in the UK

    The attempt on the life of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the British town of Salisbury threatens Gazprom’s business in the UK, the Russian edition of DW writes.

    The publication notes that Britain is Russia’s fourth largest gas export market. Moscow has considered the country one of the most promising and important for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.

    British Prime Minister Theresa May, speaking on March 14 in Parliament in response to the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter, also …

  • Kremlin denies developing the chemical agent 'Novichok' that poisoned Skripal

    Russia has never carried out any research to develop a chemical substance called "Novichok,"   stated the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova.

    "Neither in the territory of the Soviet Union nor during the Soviet times, nor in the Russian Federation has there ever been research named directly or codenamed as "Novichok." The name was not patented; it was not used as some symbol, cipher or code," Zakharova said on Rossiya's 24 TV channel.

    According to her, the name itself was …

  • British foreign secretary refuses to shake hands with Russian ambassador after Skripal poisoning

    During his recent meeting with Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson refused to shake hands with him in compliance with the "British protocol," RIA Novosti reports.

    "There is certain British protocol for the cases when an ambassador is summoned to the Foreign Office. He [Johnson] sure showed in every way his concern about the Russian policy. He had to tell me unpleasant things and thus believed that the ambassador did not …

  • Germany: Assassination attempt on Skripal should be investigated in UN

    The former German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel, who had just left his post, proposed for an investigation into the circumstances of the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, to be conducted by an international group of experts, as he indicated on Thursday, March 15th, at an official ceremony of the German-Russian Forum, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the creation of this non-governmental organization.

    According to the former Foreign Minister of Germany, international experts …

  • NATO Secretary-General puts poisoning of ex-spy in Britain on par with Russian aggression in Ukraine

    North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has sharply condemned the use of nerve gas in the United Kingdom against former GRU employee Sergei Skripal and his daughter, reports Voice of America.

    Speaking at the launch of NATO’s Annual Report for 2017, Stoltenberg called the poisoning of Skripal "the first offensive use of a nerve agent on Alliance territory since NATO’s foundation."

    He described the attack as part of "a reckless pattern of Russian behavior …