Russia warns Britain is “playing with fire”

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia at a meeting on April 5. Photo: Reuters

The United States, France, Poland, Sweden and the Netherlands, permanent and non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), have opposed Russia's request to open a joint investigation with the UK, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.

The meeting, held at Russia's request, opened with criticism and accusations aimed at each other by Russian and British representatives at the UN.

"The Russian side has warned British colleagues that you are playing with fire and will soon regret it," Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia stressed, affirming that the accusations that Russia poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal and his son in the UK are absurd.

The Russian diplomat raised a series of questions to show that there was a "forest of absurdity" surrounding the Sergei Skripal case and that this was a campaign to smear Russia's image.

"Why did we wait eight years and then decide to take action against Sergei Skripal and his son just two weeks before the Russian presidential election and a few weeks before the World Cup? Why did we let him go only to go to England a few years later and carry out an extremely dangerous assassination in broad daylight?" Ambassador Nebenzia asked.

The Russian ambassador also raised questions about the recovery of the former spy and his son. Accordingly, if a chemical poison, which the UK said was Novichok of Russian origin, had been used, they would certainly have died because it is an extremely toxic substance, long banned by the UN. But the father and son recovered and made their first contact with their relatives in Russia on April 5.

According to Ambassador Nebenzia, this shows that the antidote was prepared and injected into the two people immediately after poisoning.

Asked what he meant by saying "the British will regret it" after the meeting, the Russian ambassador replied simply: "The British accusations against Russia are untrue. A normal person should regret it."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on April 5 that Moscow will only accept the results of the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal if and only if Russian scientists are involved.

"All 10 requests from Russia to participate in the investigation sent since March 12 have been ignored," Tass news agency quoted Mr. Lavrov as emphasizing.

British Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce. Photo: Reuters

British Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce responded to all the criticism from her Russian counterpart. Ms Pierce said that British police had reviewed more than 5,000 hours of security camera footage, collected more than 1,300 pieces of evidence and interviewed nearly 500 people. All of them came to the conclusion that it was highly likely that the Russians were behind the poisoning.

Ms. Pierce also said that the international community knows what is right and what is wrong, pointing out that the Executive Council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on April 4 rejected Russia's proposal for a joint investigation. The British representative at the UN did not forget to recall how Russia refused when the UK initially offered to assist in the investigation.

"We all know why this investigation is being conducted. Because a military chemical agent was used to kill civilians on British soil. It was done recklessly and put the public at risk," Ms Pierce stressed at the April 5 meeting.

Bao Duy