The top diplomat believes the decision by
some Western countries to expel Russian diplomats is due to a colossal
blackmail campaign and pressure from the United States.
TASHKENT,
March 27. /TASS/. Moscow won’t tolerate Western countries’ crassness and
will definitely respond to the expulsion of diplomats, Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday.
"Rest
assured, we will respond," Lavrov said in reply to a TASS question.
"The reason is that no one would like to tolerate such obnoxiousness and
we won’t either," he added.
The decision by some Western countries to expel Russian diplomats comes as the result of a colossal blackmail campaign and pressure from the United States, he went on.
"The
conclusion that readily offers itself is that we were quite right when said
more than once that truly independent countries in the modern world and in
modern Europe are very few. When one or two diplomats are asked to leave this
or that country, with apologies being whispered into our ears, we know for
certain that this is a result of colossal pressure and colossal blackmail,
which is Washington’s chief instrument in the international scene," Lavrov
said. "This is what we hear in this situation and in relation to the
Palestinian problem. ‘We will not be giving any money to the Palestinians until
you say you will agree to the idea we have not formulated yet.’ In other words,
‘take it for granted.’ These ‘take-it-for-granted’ statements (charges against
Russia in connection with the reported poisoning of former GRU Colonel Sergei
Skripal and his daughter Yulia - TASS) are an insult to the system of
Anglo-Saxon, British justice," Lavrov said.
In his
opinion, this decision by Western countries "reflects the determination of
the ruling elites to ignore the voice of the people."
"I’ve
been shown some related publications. Germany’s daily Die Welt has conducted a
poll to ask the respondents if more sanctions should be taken against Russia.
More than 80% said NO. Such mechanisms of direct democracy should be used more
often," Lavrov said.
Skripal incident and expulsion of diplomats
A number of
EU member countries, the United States, Canada and Australia earlier announced
the expulsion of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian
military intelligence (GRU) officer Sergei Skripal, which the UK blames on
Moscow without providing any evidence. In particular, Washington expelled 60
Russian diplomats, including 48 embassy staff and 12 members of Russia’s
Permanent Mission to the United Nations. In addition, the US authorities
decided to close Russia’s consulate in Seattle.
The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that those unfriendly actions would not remain unanswered.
On March 4,
ex-Colonel Skripal and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged
nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. British Prime Minister Theresa
May said the substance used in the attack had allegedly been the so-called
Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union. London expelled 23
Russian diplomats. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations,
saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither
in the Soviet Union nor in Russia. In retaliation to the UK’s steps, 23 British
diplomats were expelled, the British consulate general in the city of St.
Petersburg was closed and the British Council had to shut down its operations
in Russia.
Source: ITAR-TASS 27-03-2018
