‘Russia’s UK diplomat expulsion ‘doesn’t change facts of matter’’

Monitoring Desk

LONDON: Relations between Lon-don and Moscow have crashed to a post-Cold War low after an attack on an ex-Russian spy, the first known offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War Two.

Russia’s expulsion of 23 British diplomats “doesn’t change the facts of the matter” of the poisoning of a former double agent in an English city, Prime Minister Theresa May said Saturday.

Russia was “in flagrant breach of international law,” she told her Conservative Party’s spring forum, adding that Britain “will consider our next steps in the coming days”.

“Russia’s response doesn’t change the facts of the matter – the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable,” she said. May blames Russia for the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4, which has left them both fighting for their lives.

She warned that Britain “will never tolerate a threat to the life of British citizens and others on British soil from the Russian government.”

But she said Britain had “no disagreement with the Russian people”. Russia expelled the British diplomats in a retaliatory move over British accusations that the Kremlin orchestrated a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England. Earlier this week, Britain announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and suspension of high-level contacts over the poisoning. Relations between London and Moscow have crashed to a post-Cold War low over the attack, the first known offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War Two.