Russia boots out 23 British diplomats

Moscow, March 17

Russia expelled 23 British diplomats on Saturday in a carefully calibrated retaliatory move against London, which has accused the Kremlin of orchestrating a nerve toxin attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England.

Escalating a crisis in relations, Russia said it was also shutting down the activities of the British Council, which fosters cultural links between the two countries, and Britain’s consulate-general in St Petersburg.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it was giving the expelled diplomats one week to leave the country. The move, which was tougher than expected, followed Britain’s decision on Wednesday to expel 23 Russian diplomats over the attack in UK’s Salisbury which left former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, critically ill in hospital.

Moscow announced the measures on the eve of a presidential election which incumbent Vladimir Putin would win comfortably.

The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the British ambassador, Laurie Bristow, to a meeting on Saturday morning in Central Moscow where he was informed of the retaliatory measures.

Bristow told that Britain had only expelled the Russian diplomats after Moscow had failed to explain how the nerve toxin had reached Salisbury.

“Russia’s response doesn’t change the facts of the matter that the attempted assassination of two people on British soil, for which there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable,” it said in a statement. — Reuters