At least 10 EU countries will expel Russian diplomats

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Theresa May at the EU summit in Brussels - Photo: AFP

Russian diplomats across the EU will be expelled next week as the EU continues to respond to Russia's use of a nerve agent in Salisbury, the Guardian reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron even condemned this as an "attack on European sovereignty".

At least 10 EU countries have said they will expel the Russian diplomats, and the number of countries supporting Britain is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

At the end of a summit in Brussels, EU leaders unanimously held Moscow responsible for the poisoning of a spy.

Speaking to reporters, the French president said: "What happened in the UK is clearly unprecedented. It is an aggression against the security and sovereignty of an ally, now a member of the EU, and there must be a response."

France and Germany were among the first countries to support Britain in this. They do not expect the investigation by experts at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to change their conclusions or their perspective on the double agent poisoning.

Countries understood to be preparing to expel Russian diplomats include: France, Germany, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Denmark.

In response to this information, Russian news agency RIA Novosti quoted Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as accusing Britain of deliberately making "the crisis with Russia as deep as possible" by trying to urge Britain's allies to take actions to confront Moscow.

D. KIM THOA