Russia: UK should probe Skripal case, not make claims

Russia has called "groundless" the UK's allegations that the Kremlin may be responsible for the mysterious illness affecting a former Russian spy.


Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's foreign ministry, said on Tuesday the case of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who collapsed on UK soil last Sunday, should be investigated before such allegations are made.

Skripal, a former colonel in Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia Skripal, were found unconscious on Sunday at a shopping centre in Salisbury in southern England before being taken to hospital.

British police said both individuals remain in "critical condition", though they bear no visible injuries.

Investigators are now examining CCTV footage showing the pair's last movements before they fell ill.

Boris Johnson, the UK minister of foreign affairs, said Skripal's condition "echoes" the death of ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in 2006.

Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who died in London after he was poisoned.
  [aljazeera.com]
 6/3/18
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