Russian Foreign Minister officially denies accusations of poisoning former spy
Russia has nothing to do with the poisoning of former security colonel Sergei Skripal in the UK, all accusations are absurd - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared on March 13.
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| Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Source: TASS |
"We have already made a statement that all this (Russia's involvement) is nonsense… We have nothing to do with this," - the head of Russia's foreign affairs agency told journalists.
"We are a member of the Chemical Weapons Convention, as is your homeland, the UK," the Russian Foreign Minister added in response to a BBC reporter's question.
Russia asked London for access to all documents in the Skripal case, but the British side refused, - Lavrov said, adding that Moscow's request was based on the fact that one of the victims of poisoning, Yulia Skripal, is a citizen of the Russian Federation."The request was absolutely reasonable and legal under the terms of the Chemical Weapons Convention, but our request for contact received an ambiguous answer, which means that our legal requests were rejected," Lavrov told reporters.
The Minister also once again stated that Moscow is ready to cooperate with Britain in this case.
Previously, Chairwoman of the Russian Federation Council Valentina Matvienko said that the UK's accusations of "Russia's involvement" in the Skripal case were fabricated to spark a new anti-Russian campaign.
In Matvienko's view, Skripal is of no interest to the Russian Federation. She expects the UK to conduct a thorough investigation into this case, as well as the "strange deaths" of other Russian citizens in the country.
British Prime Minister Theresa May's statement about the "Russian trace" in the Skripal case harms bilateral relations between the UK and Russia, and is intended to put direct pressure on Russia right before the presidential election, - Ms. Matvienko commented.
On March 12, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced that "there was likely Russian involvement" in the "poisoning" of former security colonel Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a mysterious nerve agent.
According to the British announcement, on March 4 in Salisbury, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious due to the effects of a nerve agent of Russian origin.