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Britain to Expel 23 Russian Diplomats, Freeze Russian State Assets

“Moscow does not accept unfounded accusations that are not based on evidence and a language of ultimatums,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters
Theresa May said on Monday that Russia was “highly likely” responsible for the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Theresa May said on Monday that Russia was “highly likely” responsible for the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain will expel 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the nerve agent attack on a former Russian double agent, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.

“Under the Vienna Convention, the United Kingdom will now expel 23 Russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers,” May told parliament. “They have just one week to leave,” Reuters reported.

May said the biggest expulsions from London in 30 years would degrade Russian intelligence capabilities in Britain for years to come.

“We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents,” May said.

***Unfounded Accusations

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman on Wednesday rejected what he called Britain's "unfounded accusations" and "ultimatums" over the poisoning of a former double agent in Britain.

"Moscow does not accept unfounded accusations that are not based on evidence and a language of ultimatums," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We are hoping that common sense will prevail," he said, in the Kremlin's first public response to British accusations that Russia could be behind the attempted murder of former double agent Sergei Skripal.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected May's deadline to explain how Skripal was poisoned in Britain with a highly toxic nerve agent invented by Russia.

"Moscow has nothing to do with the accident in Britain," Peskov said, reiterating that Moscow was open to cooperate on the investigation.

He declined to comment on calls in the West to possibly invoke NATO's principle of common defense, saying Moscow hopes that other countries would see there was no evidence to blame Russia for the poisoning attack.

"As far as a threat of isolation is concerned, we are hoping that common sense will prevail and other countries will at least think whether there is any proof or not and just how justified the rebukes against Moscow are," Peskov said.

Lavrov on Wednesday criticized May, who had said Russia was "highly likely" to be behind the attack. He accused her of vagueness in her accusations.

"It is probably not very respectable and not very serious," he said, accusing the British government of making "political scenes."

He likened the British government to the notorious general prosecutor in Stalin's purge trials in the 1930s, Andrei Vyshinsky.

He was famous for coining the phrase "confession is the queen of evidence."

Lavrov said British authorities' tactics even topped those of Vyshinsky.

"For them the queen of evidence is not confession but suspicion, which they themselves are putting forward," he said.

"We will uphold international law," he said, adding that London will "be responsible for an open attempt to crudely mislead the global community."

British communications regulator Ofcom said it could review the license of the Kremlin-backed RT broadcaster if Russian involvement in the poisoning were proven.

"Any illegal actions against any Russian media outlet in the United Kingdom will lead to retaliatory steps on the basis of reciprocity," Peskov said.

Russia has demanded that Britain give Moscow access to samples of the nerve agent used on Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday that Russia still did not have the samples or their description.

"We received zero information from the British side despite our request," she told reporters.

"We don't even have access to the Russian national who suffered" in the attack, she added.

In a terse comment on the poisoning earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin told the BBC, "Sort things out from your side and then we will discuss this with you."

 

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