Russia should "withdraw and shut up," and not prepare a response to expel its diplomats from London.

This was stated by the British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson, responding to a question about possible measures on the part of the Kremlin, the Observer reported referring to Sky News.

"What are we going to do?" We'll see how Russia responds to what we did. What Russia did in Salisbury (the poisoning of the spy-defector Sergei Skripal - ed.. ), absolutely terrible and outrageous. We responded to this. To be honest, Russia must withdraw and shut up, "said Williamson.

According to him, London will consider various options in the event of retaliatory actions by the Russian Federation, but "it is too early to speculate on this topic".

Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson says "Russia should go away" and "shut up" pic. twitter. com / WTRIS0VRtF - Sky News (@SkyNews) March 15, 2018 Williamson also stressed that relations between the countries "have only cooled down lately".

Recall, Sergei Skripal was an employee of the GRU, where he worked until 1999. In 1995, he was recruited by the British special services. In 2006, a Russian court sentenced him to 13 years in prison. In 2010, Skripal was pardoned and transferred to the US.

He was poisoned with his daughter on March 4 in Salisbury.

On March 12, British Prime Minister Theresa May stated that Russia is most likely to be responsible for the poisoning of Skripal.

On March 14, Mae announced that the United Kingdom was sending 23 Russian diplomats who were related to Russian intelligence, and London was interrupting all official relations with Moscow for the investigation period.

In response, the Russian side announced its intention to expel British diplomats.