Russia retaliates! Expels 23 British diplomats, shuts Council & Consulate

Hours after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that Moscow will retaliate the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, 23 British diplomats have been declared non-grata by Russian authorities.

When asked by a Reuters reporter in the Kazakh capital Astana if Moscow would expel British diplomats, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiled and said: “We will, of course.”

The announcement was made by Russia on the eve of a presidential election which is expected to hand Vladimir Putin a fourth term in the Kremlin.

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“Twenty three diplomatic staff at the British embassy in Moscow are declared persona non grata and to be expelled within a week,” a foreign ministry statement said.

It said this was a response to Britain’s “provocative actions” and “baseless accusations over the incident in Salisbury on March 4”.

May expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve-agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia.

The relationship between London and Moscow has crashed to a post-Cold War low over the attack involving a military-grade nerve agent on English soil.

Britain’s foreign minister, Boris Johnson also claimed that it is “highly likely” that Putin himself ordered the nerve-agent attack on the spy.

Johnson said the attack on Skripal and his daughter with a military-grade nerve toxin was most likely ordered by Putin himself.

 

 

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