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Russia 'soon' to expel British diplomats in Skripal poisoning spat
Russia will expel British diplomats "soon", foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday, in retaliation to the UK's response to the Salisbury poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
The Kremlin has refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent came to be used in the poisoning with Lavrov saying it was not backed up by evidence and calling allegations against Russia "insane" and "absolutely boorish".
A day after Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed 23 Russian diplomats had a week to leave the UK, Lavrov said retaliatory measures, including expulsions of British diplomats will come "very soon - I promise you that," the local RIA news agency reported on Thursday morning. Based on its history of tit-for-tat responses, Russia is likely to expel 23 British diplomats.
The chemical used in the attack has been identified as a member of a group of nerve agents developed by Russia known as Novichoks.
The news comes after the White House announced overnight that it "stands in solidarity" with the UK following Theresa May's decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats and take other retaliatory measures against the country.
Referring to the Salisbury incident, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: "This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behaviour in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes."
This response from the White House echoed comments made on Wednesday by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, at the UN Security Council where she said the US would "always be there" for the UK.
The UK's ambassador Jonathan Allen addressed the council and accused Russia of breaking obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, to which Russian ambassador Vasily Nebenzya responded with a demand for "material proof" of Russian involvement.
Following a statement from an Elysee spokesman overnight who derided May's decision to act against the Kremlin after the Salisbury attack on Sergei Skripal as "fantasy politics", President Emmanuel Macron changed tack, saying he supported Britain's blaming of Moscow for the attack, saying there was "no other plausible explanation".
As well as expulsion of diplomats, measures taken by the UK government have included increased checks on Russian flights, the freezing of Russian state assets where there is evidence they may be used to threaten life or property of UK residents or nationals and a boycott of the Fifa World Cup by the Royal Family.
Meanwhile, former Soviet spy Skripal and his daughter remain critically ill in hospital after being found collapsed on a park bench in Salisbury following the poisoning on 4 March.