The UK is to expel 23 Russian diplomats, consider new laws to combat spying and look at sanctions as part of a sweeping response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Theresa May has told parliament.
In a statement to MPs after the expiry of a midnight deadline to Russia to explain how one of its nerve agents was used in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, the prime minister told parliament the expulsions were the biggest such move for 30 years.
The UK would also cut off all top-level ties with Russia, including revoking an invitation to the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, to visit the UK, and would not send ministers or royals to the football World Cup this summer, May said.
In response, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, confirmed that British diplomats would be expelled from Moscow. Asked in an interview with Sky News about what would happen after May’s statement, he said: “There will be expulsions. As you understand in diplomatic practice, there will be answers from the Russian side.”
When he was asked to clarify if this meant British diplomats being expelled from Moscow, he replied: “In diplomacy, there is always reciprocity.”
He also said that what the UK government was doing was “absolutely unacceptable” and that it should refer the matter to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
