Russia, UK trade barbs over ex-spy poisoning

Russia and the UK have engaged in a war of words over allegations of Moscow’s role in the poisoning of a former spy and his daughter using a nerve agent in a British town, with President Putin dismissing the claims as “nonsense” and “absurd.”

Putin said on Monday in his first public address after his landslide victory in the presidential election that Russia has been falsely accused of poisoning the Skripals, who were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury on March 4.

Britain has said that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by the Soviet-era ‘Novichok’ nerve agent.

UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of stockpiling the banned nerve to use for terror operations.

“I found out about it from the media,” Putin told reporters asking him about the poisoning. “The first thing that entered my head was that if it had been a military-grade nerve agent, the people would have died on the spot.

“Secondly, Russia does not have such (nerve) agents. We destroyed all our chemical weapons under the supervision of international organizations, and we did it first, unlike some of our partners who promised to do it, but unfortunately did not keep their promises,” he added.

Russia believes Number 10 Downing Street launched this terror operation with the double aim of distracting the UK public’s attention from the Brexit fiasco and creating a united international front against Moscow.

Putin further said, “To claim that Russia would do anything like that before the [presidential] elections and the World Cup is nonsense and absurd,” adding, however that Moscow is willing to cooperate in the investigation to find out who really poisoned the Skripals.

“We are ready to cooperate, we said that straight away, we are ready to take part in the necessary investigations, but for that there needs be a desire from the other side, and we don’t see that yet. But we are not taking it off the agenda, joint efforts are possible,” Putin said, noting that Moscow was ready “to discuss any issues and overcome any difficulties” with London.

Responding to Putin on Monday, the UK foreign secretary said Russia’s denials in the case are “increasingly absurd,” claiming that “this is a classic Russian strategy ... They’re not fooling anybody anymore.”

Later in the day, the Kremlin’s spokesman said London would either have to back up its assertions about Russia with evidence or apologize “sooner or later.”

Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters that Britain’s allegations were “difficult to explain... groundless and slanderous.”

SS