British diplomats

Russia expels 23 British diplomats

MAN International Desk: Russian on Saturday said it will expel 23 British diplomats from the country within a week. The country summoned the British ambassador to inform him of the retaliatory action taken after the UK’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats amid tensions over spy poisoning row.

It also said it would close the British Council in Russia, which promotes cultural ties between the nations, and the British Consulate in St Petersburg, reported news agency.

The move comes in response to Britain’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats.

They were ordered to leave over the incident on 4 March which the UK government has blamed on Russia – but which Russia denies.

Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital, after they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The UK government says they were poisoned with a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia called Novichok, and PM Theresa May has said she believes Moscow is “culpable”.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it was “overwhelmingly likely” that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the nerve agent attack.

Responding, Mr Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the accusations were “shocking and unforgivable”.

Britain’s ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, was summoned to Russia’s foreign ministry on Saturday and was handed Russia’s response to the UK’s sanctions.

The response from Moscow is robust and does go further than the UK measures. But it doesn’t appear calculated to escalate tensions.

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