European Union leaders agreed on Friday to recall the bloc's envoy to Moscow for consultations, in a symbolic step as the Union backed Britain in blaming Russia for the nerve attack on a former Russian double agent, three diplomats said.

European Union leaders agreed on Friday to recall the bloc's envoy to Moscow for consultations, in a symbolic step as the Union backed Britain in blaming Russia for the nerve attack on a former Russian double agent, three diplomats said.

The show of support from the EU, at a time when Britain is grappling with its departure from the bloc, will boost UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been asking other nations to match her decision to expel Russians over the attack. In a joint summit statement, the leaders said the EU "agrees with the United Kingdom government's assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation".

That marked a breakthrough for Britain, which had been seeking to persuade EU leaders to condemn Russia for the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter on March 4. It was the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War Two. After talks that ran into the early hours of Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel raised the prospect of further punitive measures in response to the attack in the southwestern city of Salisbury, saying the European Union would strive to act together on the matter.

"We are determined to react together, with the language we used here, but also possibly through additional measures," Merkel said at the end of the first day of the summit. May's move to expel 23 "undeclared intelligence officials" was followed by similar measures from Moscow, including the closure of Britain's cultural centre in St Petersburg.

"The threat that Russia poses respects no borders," she told reporters. "This is about us standing together to uphold our values." In the early days after the attack, May won the support of French President Emmanuel Macron, Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump when they said they shared Britain's assessment of Russian culpability.

But in Brussels, May had to convince Russia's allies Greece, Hungary and Bulgaria. Highlighting the bloc's familiar divisions on how to handle Russia, Slovakia's new prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, said he wanted "constructive dialogue" with Moscow despite the poisoning of the Skripals. British authorities say the pair have been critically ill since the attack by a Soviet-designed, military-grade nerve agent called Novichok.

Leaders agreed to increase their defences against Russian "hybrid" threats, including in disinformation campaigns, cyber attacks and covert actions. May has also asked fellow European leaders to step up intelligence cooperation to start going after Russian spy networks, diplomats said. "Britain says there are these networks that organise such things like Salisbury, that these networks exist across our borders and that it would be good to go after them together," a senior EU diplomat said.

Russia has offered several different motives to explain the attack on the Skripals, who may have been left brain-damaged, and to absolve Moscow of responsibility. London has labelled that disinformation and distraction. On Thursday, Moscow's ambassador to London, Vladimir Yakovenko, said that, had Novichok been used, the Skripals would have died and he rebuked British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for comparing Russia's hosting of the soccer World Cup this summer with Nazi Germany's hosting of the Olympics in 1936. In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin discussed Britain's "unfriendly and provocative" policy at a session of the national security council, RIA news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying.

Ties between Russia and the West plummeted over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea and support for rebels in eastern Ukraine. Both have triggered rounds of EU sanctions. "Russia has shown itself as a strategic enemy, not a strategic partner," a British official said.</s>MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday that too many American spies operated in Moscow under diplomatic cover and said it might expel some of them to retaliate against the United States over Washington's expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats last year.

 The warning, delivered by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, reflects rising frustration in Moscow over the Trump administration's refusal to hand back two Russian diplomatic compounds which were seized at the same time as some of Russia's diplomats were sent home last year.

 Barack Obama, U.S. president at the time, ordered the expulsion of 35 suspected Russian spies in December, along with the seizure of the two diplomatic compounds, over what he said was the hacking of U.S. political groups during the 2016 presidential election, something Russia has flatly denied.

 President Vladimir Putin decided not to retaliate immediately at the time, saying he would wait to see what the new administration of Donald Trump would do. 

 Zakharova complained on Friday that U.S. officials were not issuing visas to Russian diplomats to allow Moscow to replace the expelled employees and get its embassy back up to full strength.

 "We have a way of responding," she told a news briefing. "The number of staff at the U.S. embassy in Moscow exceeds the number of our embassy employees in Washington by a big margin. One of our options, apart from a tit-for-tat expulsion of Americans, would be to even out the numbers."

 If there was no movement in the U.S.-Russia dispute soon, she said Moscow would have to reluctantly retaliate and suggested U.S. spies working in Russia would be among those to be expelled. 

 "There are too many employees of the CIA and the Pentagon's espionage unit working under the roof of the American diplomatic mission whose activity does not correspond at all with their status," said Zakharova. 

 

 'TIME RUNNING OUT'

 Russia would also move to deny U.S. diplomats use of a dacha compound and a warehouse in Moscow, she made clear.

 Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not yet taken any decision on retaliation. He said Russia rejected the idea of linking the dispute to other issues.

 Peskov was responding to comments made to CNN by Sebastian Gorka, a Trump adviser, that appeared to link the compounds' return to Russia's behavior in Syria.

 Zakharova said time for Washington to act "was running out." 

 "We don't want to resort to extreme measures. (But) if it's the only way to make our American partners understand we will have to act."

 Asked when Moscow might retaliate, she suggested a lot would depend on the outcome of a meeting in Washington on Monday between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov and U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon. 

 Russia expected U.S. officials to use the meeting to set out "detailed proposals" on the matter, she said. 

 "There is no precise deadline. Everything depends on the reaction of the U.S. side, its concrete actions, and on the results of the consultations which will now take place in Washington."

 

 (Additional reporting by Denis Pinchuk; Editing by Christian Lowe)</s>The European Union is recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the nerve gas attack against a former spy in Britain earlier this month, reinforcing a united stand with Prime Minister Theresa May against Russia.

After the EU firmly sided with May in the escalating conflict reminiscent of the Cold War and said it was "highly likely Russia is responsible" for the attack on Sergei Skripal, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU envoy "is being recalled for consultations to Brussels."

May won the backing of 27 other EU leaders at a summit Thursday and the bloc called the attack a "grave challenge to our shared security."

The EU states said they would "coordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities."

May was delighted with the support early Friday. "This is about us standing together to uphold our values against the Russian threat," she said.

Rutte said no sanctions were actually discussed at the summit even though rumors swirled of more drastic diplomatic measures. President Dalia Grybauskaite of former Soviet state Lithuania said she was considering expelling Russian diplomats in the wake of the March 4 attack.

Rutte said over the coming days or weeks, "we and our partners must see what the logical next steps are."

He insisted that any measure "must have an added value to this extremely strong political declaration."

The unanimity was a victory for May. She had been striving at a summit in Brussels to persuade her EU colleagues to unite in condemning Moscow over the attack on Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer convicted of spying for Britain, and his daughter, Yulia.

During a summit dinner, May laid out the reasons Britain is convinced Moscow was behind the attack, including the type of poison used a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok and intelligence that Russia has produced it within the last decade.

Britain argues the attack is part of a pattern of behavior by an increasingly assertive Russia whose muscle-flexing, cyber-meddling and law-breaking on foreign soil pose a threat to the international rule of law.

May said Thursday that "it is clear that the Russian threat doesn't respect borders." She said "the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbors, from the western Balkans to the Middle East."

But European politicians and leaders varied in how far they were willing to go in blaming the Kremlin.

Russia President Vladimir Putin's office said Thursday that Greek leader Alexis Tsipras had called Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and discuss issues, including the Salisbury poisoning.

Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each other's diplomats in a dispute showing no sign of easing.

Russia's ambassador to the U.K., Alexander Yakovenko, accused the U.K. Thursday of having a "bad record of violating international law and misleading the international community."

"History shows that British statements must be verified," he told reporters in London, demanding "full transparency of the investigation and full cooperation with Russia" and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The war of words between the UK and Russia

The EU has recalled its ambassador to Moscow after leaders agreed it was "highly likely" Russia was responsible for a nerve agent attack in the UK.

The European Council of EU leaders said there was "no plausible alternative".

Moscow denies responsibility for the attack on an ex-spy and his daughter and said the EU was following an "anti-Russian campaign launched by London".

Meanwhile, British diplomats expelled from Russia have left the embassy in Moscow ahead of Russia's deadline.

Russia decided to expel the British diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to the UK's expulsion of 23 of its diplomats.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical but stable condition after the attack on 4 March.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed the EU support, saying that it was right "we are standing together" as the threat posed by Russia "respects no borders and it is a threat to our values".

The EU said its ambassador to Russia, German Markus Ederer, was recalled "for consultations" and was expected in Brussels over the weekend.

The European Council statement added: "We stand in unqualified solidarity with the United Kingdom in the face of this grave challenge to our shared security."

Image copyright Reuters Image caption A convoy of vehicles leaves the British Embassy in Moscow ahead of Russia's deadline for 23 UK diplomats to leave the country

In response, Russia's foreign ministry said: "We regret that the EU chose to follow another anti-Russian campaign launched by London and its allies from across the ocean, with the obvious purpose of creating yet another obstacle to normalising the situation on the European continent."

Mrs May briefed her counterparts on Thursday on the poisoning of the Skripals, who were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury.

The prime minister set out the evidence the UK has against Russia - including the positive identification of the chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent and the knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years.

Asked if she had relied on UK intelligence information to convince EU allies, Mrs May said the UK had been sharing "throughout" the investigation "what intelligence we can share with our colleagues".

She said: "What is crucial is that there was recognition around the table about the threat that Russia poses."

Analysis

By Laura Kuenssberg, BBC political editor

It might not sound much, but a few small words can make a big difference.

The president of the European Council has used the prime minister's language about the Salisbury attack, accepting and agreeing with the British verdict that there is no other "plausible" explanation for what happened.

That is a small, but significantly different, tone to the statement a few days ago.

EU ministers would only say: "The European Union takes extremely seriously the UK government's assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible."

The sentiment then was, OK, it might have been them - but you haven't convinced us yet.

Read more from Laura

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Theresa May said, after talks, that it was "right that we stand together"

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said he supported the EU's position "very strongly" and Ireland could expel Russian officials if they were shown to be acting as intelligence agents.

He said there would be a security assessment in the coming days with a decision as early as next week.

Lithuania, Czech Republic and Latvia have also said they were considering expelling suspected Russian spies from their countries.

But Greek PM Alexis Tsipras said that while he wanted to "express solidarity" with Britain, "we also need to be responsible on that issue".

Why does the EU have ambassadors?

The European Union has a network of 140 delegations around the world which represent the EU abroad.

The EU nominates ambassadors to those embassies. They play a key role in presenting, explaining and implementing the EU's foreign policies to their host country.

The current EU ambassador to Russia is German diplomat Markus Ederer, who has previously been responsible for China and Mongolia.</s>The European Union is recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the nerve gas attack against a former spy in Britain earlier this month, reinforcing a united stand with Prime Minister Theresa May against Russia.

After the EU firmly sided with May in the escalating conflict reminiscent of the Cold War and said it was "highly likely Russia is responsible" for the attack on Sergei Skripal, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU envoy "is being recalled for consultations to Brussels."

May won the backing of 27 other EU leaders at a summit Thursday and the bloc called the attack a "grave challenge to our shared security."

The EU states said they would "coordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities."

May was delighted with the support early Friday. "This is about us standing together to uphold our values against the Russian threat," she said.

Rutte said no sanctions were actually discussed at the summit even though rumors swirled of more drastic diplomatic measures. President Dalia Grybauskaite of former Soviet state Lithuania said she was considering expelling Russian diplomats in the wake of the March 4 attack.

Rutte said over the coming days or weeks, "we and our partners must see what the logical next steps are."

He insisted that any measure "must have an added value to this extremely strong political declaration."

The unanimity was a victory for May. She had been striving at a summit in Brussels to persuade her EU colleagues to unite in condemning Moscow over the attack on Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer convicted of spying for Britain, and his daughter, Yulia.

During a summit dinner, May laid out the reasons Britain is convinced Moscow was behind the attack, including the type of poison used — a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok — and intelligence that Russia has produced it within the last decade.

Britain argues the attack is part of a pattern of behavior by an increasingly assertive Russia whose muscle-flexing, cyber-meddling and law-breaking on foreign soil pose a threat to the international rule of law.

May said Thursday that "it is clear that the Russian threat doesn't respect borders." She said "the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbors, from the western Balkans to the Middle East."

But European politicians and leaders varied in how far they were willing to go in blaming the Kremlin.

Russia President Vladimir Putin's office said Thursday that Greek leader Alexis Tsipras had called Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and discuss issues, including the Salisbury poisoning.

Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each other's diplomats in a dispute showing no sign of easing.

Russia's ambassador to the U.K., Alexander Yakovenko, accused the U.K. Thursday of having a "bad record of violating international law and misleading the international community."

"History shows that British statements must be verified," he told reporters in London, demanding "full transparency of the investigation and full cooperation with Russia" and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Associated Press writers Lorne Cook in Brussels, Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Danica Kirka and Greg Katz in London contributed to this report.</s>The European Union is recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the nerve gas attack against a former spy in Britain earlier this month, reinforcing a united stand with Prime Minister Theresa May against Russia.

After the EU firmly sided with May in the escalating conflict reminiscent of the Cold War and said it was ‘highly likely Russia is responsible’ for the attack on Sergei Skripal, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU envoy ‘is being recalled for consultations to Brussels.’

May won the backing of 27 other EU leaders at a summit Thursday and the bloc called the attack a ‘grave challenge to our shared security.’

The EU states said they would ‘coordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities.’

May was delighted with the support early Friday. “This is about us standing together to uphold our values against the Russian threat,” she said.

Rutte said no sanctions were actually discussed at the summit even though rumors swirled of more drastic diplomatic measures. President Dalia Grybauskaite of former Soviet state Lithuania said she was considering expelling Russian diplomats in the wake of the March 4 attack.

Rutte said over the coming days or weeks, ‘we and our partners must see what the logical next steps are.’ He insisted that any measure ‘must have an added value to this extremely strong political declaration.’

The unanimity was a victory for May. She had been striving at a summit in Brussels to persuade her EU colleagues to unite in condemning Moscow over the attack on Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer convicted of spying for Britain, and his daughter, Yulia.

During a summit dinner, May laid out the reasons Britain is convinced Moscow was behind the attack, including the type of poison used – a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok – and intelligence that Russia has produced it within the last decade.

Britain argues the attack is part of a pattern of behavior by an increasingly assertive Russia whose muscle-flexing, cyber-meddling and law-breaking on foreign soil pose a threat to the international rule of law.

May said Thursday that ‘it is clear that the Russian threat doesn’t respect borders.’ She said “the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbors, from the western Balkans to the Middle East.”

But European politicians and leaders varied in how far they were willing to go in blaming the Kremlin.

Russia President Vladimir Putin’s office said Thursday that Greek leader Alexis Tsipras had called Putin to congratulate him on his re-election and discuss issues, including the Salisbury poisoning.

Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each other’s diplomats in a dispute showing no sign of easing.

Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, accused the UK. Thursday of having a “bad record of violating international law and misleading the international community.”

“History shows that British statements must be verified,” he told reporters in London, demanding ‘full transparency of the investigation and full cooperation with Russia’ and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App</s>EU leaders decided today to recall the bloc’s envoy to Russia after backing Britain’s assessment that Moscow was likely behind a nerve agent attack on an ex-spy, officials said. A number of EU countries are also considering expelling Russian diplomats or recalling their own envoys following the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England.

“After agreeing on attribution, they continued the discussions on how could they go beyond just words and actually really have some deeds,” a senior EU official said after the first day of the summit. “Some member states are looking into possibly expelling Russian diplomats or recalling national diplomats. “But there was also an agreement to recall the EU ambassador to Moscow for consultations.”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte confirmed the recall of the EU envoy. Another EU source told AFP the recall was a “show of intent”. The 28 EU leaders said in a statement “that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation”.

Lithuania’s outspoken President Dalia Grybauskaite said on the way into the summit that she was giving serious thought to following Britain’s lead in taking steps against Moscow. Britain has expelled 23 Russian diplomats and severed some high-level ties. “All of us we are considering such measures,” Grybauskaite said.</s>Britain pushed on Thursday to get the rest of the European Union to squarely condemn Moscow over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England.

Prime Minister Theresa May, also grappling with Britain’s departure from the bloc, is asking European Union states to crack down together on Russian spies that could be preparing similar attacks, diplomats at the EU summit said.

She received strong support from France and Germany but had yet to convince Russia doves to blame Moscow directly over the assault.

“Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom,” May told reporters. “It’s clear that the Russian threat does not respect borders and indeed the incident in Salisbury was a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours.”

May accused Russia of the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War Two after Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter were found unconscious in the city of Salisbury on March 4.

May has expelled 23 Russian diplomats as undercover spies. Moscow, which has denied involvement in the attack, has taken retaliatory steps.

After May met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the summit, a French government source said the three “agreed to deliver a strong European message in response to Russian actions”.

A British spokesman said they “reaffirmed that there is no plausible explanation other than that the Russian state was responsible”.

Macron, Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump have already said in a joint statement with May that they share Britain’s assessment of Russian culpability.

EU leaders sparred at dinner over whether to match that language, as they also discussed taking “coordinated action” over the attack. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said she was ready to expel Russian spies.

Diplomats said so was another Russia hawk in the EU, Poland. But, with the bloc traditionally split on how to handle Moscow, where President Vladimir Putin secured a fourth presidential term last Sunday, they were waiting to see who else would join.

Slovakia’s new prime minister, Peter Pellegrini, backed a draft summit statement of all EU leaders, which for now only says they take “extremely seriously” London’s assessment that it was highly likely Russia was responsible for the attack.

Pellegrini said he wanted “constructive dialogue” with Russia.

Greece and Hungary are also reluctant to sharpen the wording over the poisoning of the Skripals, who British authorities say have been critically ill since the attack by a Soviet-produced, military-grade nerve agent called Novichok.

May will also ask fellow European leaders to step up intelligence cooperation to go after Russian spy networks further down the line, diplomats said.

“Britain says there are these networks that organise such things like Salisbury, that these networks exist across our borders and that it would be good to go after them together,” a senior EU diplomat said.

Another diplomat said: “There is movement among several willing states to do something together in reaction to Skripal.” The person added this would be done bilaterally so as not to press more reluctant member states too hard.

Russia’s ambassador to London, Vladimir Yakovenko, on Thursday said that, had Novichok been used, the Skripals would have died. A British judge said separately the attack may have left the Skripals brain-damaged and that it was unclear whether they would recover.

Yakovenko rebuked British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for comparing Russia’s hosting of the soccer World Cup this summer with Nazi Germany’s hosting of the Olympics in 1936.

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin discussed Britain’s “unfriendly and provocative” policy at a session of the national security council, RIA news agency quoted the Kremlin as saying.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs the summit and has sided with Britain, said the bloc should discuss how to better protect itself from chemical and biological attacks and beef up counter-intelligence.

“Russia has shown itself as a strategic enemy, not a strategic partner,” said a British official, who stressed however that Britain was not seeking new economic sanctions.

Ties between Russia and the West plummeted over Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Kiev and support for rebels in east Ukraine. Both have triggered EU sanctions.</s>Brussels, March 23 (IANS) The EU has recalled its ambassador from Moscow after leaders on the continent sided with Britain over the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in the UK, saying it was “highly likely” Moscow was responsible for the attack.

Following a summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack, the European Council of EU leaders agreed “there was no plausible alternative explanation”, the BBC reported.

“We stand in unqualified solidarity with the UK in the face of this grave challenge to our shared security,” the statement by the European Council said.

British leader Theresa May said the Salisbury poisoning was “part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe”.

Moscow denies responsibility for the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. They remain in a critical but stable condition after the attack on March 4.

The EU said its ambassador to Russia was recalled “for consultations”. European Council’s President Donald Tusk tweeted that all leaders agreed Russia’s responsibility for the attack was highly likely.

France, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were reportedly considering expelling Russian diplomats as requested by the UK government, in a coordinated strike against Moscow, according to a Guardian report.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said: “All of us, we are considering such measures.” She added that she had not congratulated Putin on his re-election.

On Thursday night, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the EU ambassador to Russia was being recalled to consult with Brussels over the Salisbury attack. Rutte characterised this as a “measure” rather than a formal “sanction” against Moscow.

Britain had expelled 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the nerve agent attack. In the run-up to Thursday’s summit, British officials shared intelligence with their EU counterparts about the issue.

Theresa May also met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron in Brussels and a spokesperson of Downing 10 claimed that “the UK, Germany and France reaffirmed that there is no plausible explanation other than that the Russian state was responsible”.

The three leaders agreed on “the importance of sending a strong European message in response to Russia’s actions and agreed to remain in close contact in coming days,” a spokesperson was quoted as saying.</s>MOSCOW: Russia on Friday accused Britain of trying to force its allies to take “confrontational steps” after EU member states decided to recall the bloc’s envoy from Moscow and mulled further diplomatic action over a nerve attack row.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed Britain for garnering EU support over the poisoning of a former double agent, suggesting that London’s focus was now on making “the crisis with Russia as deep as possible”.

At a summit in Brussels, EU leaders united behind British Prime Minister Theresa May in blaming Russia for the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England, and agreed to recall their ambassador to Moscow for consultations.

EU states are now considering whether to follow Britain’s lead in expelling Russian diplomats and Latvia said Friday it would expel “one or several” Russian diplomats.“As for the decision taken, we regret in this context that again such decisions are taken using the wording ‘highly likely’,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“We don’t agree with this and we repeat again that Russia absolutely definitely has nothing to do with the Skripal case.”Russia’s top diplomat Lavrov for his part slammed Britain for “feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps”.

“We still do not see any facts,” state news agency RIA Novosti quoted him as saying on a visit to Hanoi. “The absence of which makes one think that all of this is a provocation, the investigation has not even been finished yet.”

In a televised address, Putin thanked Russians for giving him the “highest level of support in the history of our country” in Sunday’s elections and urged the nation to come together amid the “difficult internal and external challenges we face.”

May had pressed the importance of a united response to the March 4 poisoning and the EU leaders in Brussels offered her their full support, agreeing in a statement “that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation”.

The Skripals are both in a coma after being found collapsed on a park bench, although a policeman who was also contaminated was released from hospital on Thursday. The Kremlin has angrily rejected Britain’s claims and Russian officials have offered numerous alternative explanations, including that London directed the attack itself or that Washington may have been involved.

Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats they said were spies, and Russia responded in kind, also halting the activities of the British Council cultural and educational organisation.Earlier Friday, British diplomats left their Moscow mission in several minibuses and the remaining diplomatic staff sent them off with a round of applause, Russian television showed.
The EU ambassador to Russia is recalled from Moscow.