Moscow to respond to UK actions in regard to Skripal case in near future –FM

Russia will soon adopt retaliatory measures in response to the actions of the UK in regard to the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

“We expect the adoption of retaliatory measures in response to the imposition and announcement of imposition of relevant unfriendly moves and measures by the UK against the Russian Federation,” Zakharova told a news conference.

Zakharova noted that the measures would be adopted “in the near future.”

The spokeswoman stressed that the UK refused to cooperate with Russia “on fulfillment of its duties as a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention” and a member of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

“I would like to inform you that several diplomatic notes have been sent to the Foreign Office via the Russian embassy in the UK.

“They sought to launch an active dialogue with the officials in London … We received meaningless formal replies,” Zakharova said, adding that a total of four notes had been sent.

NAN reports that British foreign minister Boris Johnson suggested on Thursday that corrupt Russians who owe their wealth to their ties with President Vladimir Putin could be targeted by British police in retaliation for a nerve attack on a Russian ex-spy.

Britain announced on Wednesday it was expelling 23 Russian diplomats over the Novichok nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

“What people want to see is some of the very rich people who are directly associated with Vladimir Putin … whose wealth can be attributed to their relationship with Vladimir Putin, it may be that the law agencies, that the police will be able to put unexplained wealth orders on them, to bring them to justice for their acts of gross corruption,” Johnson told BBC television in an interview on Britain’s response to the Skripal case. (Sputnik/NAN)