Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov yesterday threatened to retaliate against Britain for “anti-Russian measures,” with the two countries at loggerheads over the poisoning of a spy in England.
Speaking after a meeting with Japanese counterpart Taro Kono, Lavrov said: “If the British government continues taking some anti-Russian measures, we will hit back under the principle of reciprocity.”
Lavrov urged the British government to “respond calmly” over the March 4 attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who remain in critical condition.
The UK said only Russia had the capability, motive and intent to be behind the attack, which used the nerve agent Novichok reportedly developed by the former Soviet Union.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed this as “nonsense.”
The UK reacted by expelling 23 Russian diplomats and their families — about 80 people in total — and has also cut off high-level contacts.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said London was “actively considering” other measures.
On Tuesday, the head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons watchdog said it would take two to three weeks to complete laboratory analysis of samples taken from the poisoning.
The affair has poisoned Russia’s already shaky relations with many Western countries.
The EU is to express its solidarity with Britain and leaders at a summit later this week and is expected to agree to “coordinate on the consequences” for Russia, a draft statement seen by reporters said.
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Tuesday said that Moscow’s suspected involvement shows Russia has “chosen to be a strategic competitor.”
However, US President Donald Trump skipped the issue when congratulating Putin on his re-election and proposed a summit in the “not-too-distant future.”
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced “outrage” over the attack in a call to May, her office said.
Skripal, 66, a former Russian officer who sold secrets to Britain and moved there in a 2010 spy swap, remains in a coma along with his 33-year-old daughter after they were found unconscious on a bench in Salisbury, England.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
RSS