The Russian authorities suggest that the incident with former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Russian citizen Julia Skripal in Salisbury on March 4, may have been directed by the leadership of the United Kingdom. About this at a briefing for foreign ambassadors, broadcasted by RT, said the director of the Department of nonproliferation and arms control of the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Ermakov. "It is in the UK on a Russian citizen attacked. Here elementary logic suggests only two possible options: the British authorities either are not able to provide protection against this kind of, figuratively speaking, a terrorist attack on their territory, or they themselves directly or indirectly - I do not blame anyone - directed an attack on a Russian citizen.

The third is simply not given, "said Yermakov. According to him, now it is necessary to find out who was behind this poisoning and what goals pursued. "One thing is clear: Russia is absolutely not involved in this. At least for one simple reason - for Russia such an adventure is simply unacceptable, it is not beneficial to us in all respects, "stressed our diplomat. He believes that the British authorities, with this attack and the blatant accusation in Moscow against him, have themselves stymied themselves, however, "an increasing number of incoming questions will ultimately have to be answered". Ermakov pointed to the fact that official London still does not answer any Russian questions regarding Yulia Skripal. "We have no reliable information about what happened to the Russian civilian in the last two weeks," the representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said and added that Moscow was surprised that, in violation of international standards, Britain does not allow our consuls to the injured citizen Of Russia. In addition, the director of the department wondered why the British side insisted that the poison used in Salisbury was precisely a combat weapon. "These British heralds, they generally represent what a warfare agent is, because any self-respecting expert will tell you that the actual use of a warfare agent inevitably leads to numerous victims right on the site of its use. According to the stories coming from London, we see that in Salisbury is a completely different picture, "said Yermakov. In his opinion, due to London's refusal to provide Moscow with the investigation data, it is likely that "real clues during this time could have already disappeared altogether-as, incidentally, more than once in the UK, it is not at all clear what they have, British, are we talking about? "The ambassadors of France, China, Britain and the United States refused to attend this briefing.

Earlier on Wednesday, March 21, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a meeting with his Japanese counterpart Taro Kono, expressed the hope that Tokyo, in a dialogue with London, would try to establish details with the departure of the former Russian intelligence agent Skripal, at least to find out a couple of facts. "First - where is Mr. Skripal and his daughter, and the second - why, as an official spokesman for Scotland Yard said that the investigation will take months, and the British government has already issued a verdict without waiting for a judicial decision," Lavrov said, stressing that maybe the Japanese will be able to get answers to questions from the British.