London’s behavior
runs counter to "all norms of civilized relations", the Russian
Embassy said.
LONDON, November 20.
/TASS/. The British authorities’ rejection of Russia’s requests on the fate of
former Russian military intelligence officer convicted in Russia for spying for
the UK Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia breaches all norms of civilized
relations between the countries, the Russian Embassy said on Tuesday.
"Over the past
months the embassy has sent more than 70 notes and letters to the United
Kingdom’s Foreign Office and the Home Department," the document said.
Russia’s diplomatic mission regularly asks about the Skripal case during
personal contacts with the Foreign Office’s representatives.
Russia asked dozens
of questions about the poisoning victims and where they stay now, as well as
the symptoms and methods of their treatment, as well as the police
investigation, the samples of the substance and the evidence which may shed
light on the case. "Almost all the questions, offers and appeals have been
ignored. This London’s behavior runs counter to all norms of civilized
relations between the countries and is a flagrant violation of simple norms of
diplomatic politeness," the embassy said.
Nearly nine months
have passed since the Skripals were poisoned under unclear circumstances, but
these Russian citizens "still remain in isolation under full control of
the British authorities," and are deprived of a chance to communicate with
their relatives, friends and Russian official representatives, and cannot
freely travel.
The UK authorities
continue rejecting the embassy’s demand for direct contacts with them to check
their health, conditions of stay and whether what is happening to them is upon
their good will.
So, London
"blatantly violates Russia’s legal right to contact with its citizens
under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and
Article 36 of the 1965 Bilateral Consular Convention," it said.
The deprivation of
the Skripals’ freedom arouses serious concerns over the observance of their
rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1950
European Convention on Human Rights.
During the first days
after the incident, Russia officially offered London to provide legal
assistance and conduct a joint investigation and also requested the UK’s help
in connection with a criminal case opened in Russia. Moscow also expressed its
readiness to cooperate in line with the procedures of the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Britain claims that
former Russian military intelligence officer convicted in Russia for spying for
the UK Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were affected by a nerve gas of
the Novichok class in Salisbury, England, on March 4. The British government
claimed that Russia was highly likely involved in this incident. Moscow
strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, saying that neither the
Soviet Union nor Russia had ever had programs for making such agents. Britain’s
military chemical laboratory at Porton Down has failed to establish the origin
of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.
Source: ITAR-TASS
21-11-2018
