Russia denying involvement in nerve agent poisoning is ‘absurd’: Boris Johnson
Moscow’s denials over its involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain are growing “increasingly absurd”, British foreign minister Boris Johnson said today.
“The Russian denials grow increasingly absurd,” Johnson said as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. “This is a classic Russian strategy of trying to conceal the needle of truth in a haystack of lies and obfuscation.”
Earlier, Russia expelled British diplomats in retaliation for Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to kick out 23 Russians as relations with London crash to a post-Cold War low due to an attack with military-grade nerve agent on English soil.
After the first known offensive use of such a weapon in Europe since World War Two, May blamed Moscow and gave 23 Russians who she said were spies working under diplomatic cover at the London embassy a week to leave.
Russia has denied any involvement, cast Britain as a post-colonial power unsettled by Brexit, and even suggested London had fabricated the attack in an attempt to whip up anti-Russian hysteria.
Asked by a Reuters reporter in the Kazakh capital if Russia planned to expel British diplomats from Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiled and said: “We …read more
