Danica Kirka, Jill Lawless and Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press 

 



LONDON -- Russia will "certainly" expel British diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to Britain's decision to send 23 Russians home over the poisoning of a former spy, the foreign minister said Thursday. British and Russian officials traded barbs as diplomatic relations plunged to Cold War-era levels of iciness following the nerve-agent poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Britain blames Russia for the March 4 attack, which has left the pair in critical condition and a police officer seriously ill.

U.K. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson called relations between the two countries “exceptionally chilly” and said Russia should “go away and shut up.”

Lavrov said British accusations of Moscow’s involvement are intended to distract public attention from the U.K’s troubled exit from the European Union. He argued that “boorish and unfounded” accusations against Russia “reflect the hopeless situation the British government has found itself in when it can’t meet the obligations given to the public in connection with exit from the EU.”

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Russia targeted Skripal — a former Russian intelligence officer convicted of spying for Britain — to make it clear that those who defy the Russian state deserve to “choke on their own 30 pieces of silver.”

Johnson told the BBC there was a message in the “smug, sarcastic response” from Moscow after Britain demanded an explanation for how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union’s Novichok program was used on the Skripals in the English city of Salisbury. “I have an absolute conviction that this is exactly the same kind of canard that led us to the disaster of the Iraq war,” Galloway said, before adding that “in any list of suspects, Russia must be near the bottom because, self-evidently, it has not and cannot benefit from this crime in any way.”

On Russia’s refusal to respond to the deadline set by May for it to give its account of the Skripal poisoning, Galloway said: “The reality is Russia has every right to be offended here. UK Accuses Russia of Alleged 'Attack' on Skripal

The statement comes a day after UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced the largest expulsion of Russian diplomats from the UK since the Cold War over the alleged "attack" on a former Russian intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov wouldn’t reveal how Russia will retaliate, but said the decision will come from President Vladimir Putin, “and there is no doubt that he will choose the option that best reflects Russian interests.”

“We are worried by this situation” and will work patiently to express Russia’s position on the international stage, Peskov said. Britain has kept France closely informed of the evidence gathered by British investigators and "elements proving Russia's responsibility in the attack," Macron said.
Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov says Russia will "definitely" expel British diplomats.