The Kremlin says Russia will roll out
tit-for-tat measures against the UK shortly.
MOSCOW,
March 15. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally choose an
option of retaliatory measures against London that will best correspond to
Russia’s interests, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.
"Naturally,
they [retaliatory measures] will follow soon, the Foreign Ministry and other
government agencies will come up with their proposals," he said.
According to the Kremlin spokesman, Russian President Vladimir Putin will personally choose an option of retaliatory measures against London that will best correspond to Russia’s interests.
"A
final decision [on retaliatory measures] will, of course, be made by the
Russian president. There is no doubt that he will choose the variant that best
of all corresponds to the interests of the Russian Federation," Peskov
told reporters.
He added
that Russia is perplexed by the UK’s actions. Regarding the whole situation
[with the case of former Russian military intelligence Colonel Sergey Skripal],
unfortunately, we have to say once again: Russia is perplexed and does not
comprehend the British leadership's stance against the backdrop of Skripal’s
case," he noted.Russia will take retaliatory measures against the UK
shortly, he added.
"Naturally,
they [retaliatory measures] will follow soon, the Foreign Ministry and other
state bodies will present their proposals," he said.
When asked
if the Kremlin was ready to support Russians who could be affected by London’s
sanctions, the Russian presidential spokesman said that he did not know
"about London’s sanctions against Russians in the United Kingdom."
Regarding
the whole situation [with the case of former Russian military intelligence
Colonel Sergey Skripal], unfortunately, we have to say once again: Russia is
perplexed and does not comprehend the stance by the British leadership and the
British side against the backdrop of Skripal’s case," the Kremlin
spokesman said. He stressed that "the accusations are unsubstantiated,
moreover, these accusations surfaced even before any information on the used
substance could appear."
"We
consider the British position absolutely irresponsible with regard to
diplomatic relations, as well as final goals and interests of a real
investigation and search for the people who are behind this and from the point
of view of violation of the international law by the British side, which is
also obvious," Peskov told reporters.
Presidential election
"This
has no effect at all, and the election campaign is going according to the
schedule, and, naturally, it is a priority for us. We insist that Russia has no
relation to what happened in the UK. The most important thing for us now is
domestic affairs," Peskov said. He mentioned Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s words that "the Russian domestic affairs and all that should be
done on a permanent basis to improve the quality of life for the Russians are
an absolute priority.".
Skripal case
On March 4,
Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench
near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury after being exposed to a nerve
agent. Both are currently hospitalized in critical condition.
On March
14, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May accused Russia of an "unlawful
use of force" against her country. She claimed that Moscow was involved in
the poisoning.
In 2004,
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Skripal and later on, he was
sentenced to 13 years in prison for high treason. In 2010, the former colonel
was handed over to the US as part of a swap deal involving espionage suspects.
Later that same year, Skripal arrived in the UK and settled there.
Source: ITAR-TASS 15-03-2018
