The consulate general
stopped performing part of its functions in June, but continued to operate
until the end of the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
MOSCOW, August 1.
/TASS/. The Embassy of the United Kingdom in Russia has officially confirmed
the closure of the British consulate general in St. Petersburg in social media
on Wednesday.
"British
Consulate General St Petersburg is now officially closed, regrettably forced on
us by Russian government following their actions in Salisbury. On Monday the
flag was lowered in the presence of both our first & last Consul Generals
who had been posted to the city," the embassy said in a statement.
The consulate general
stopped performing part of its functions in June, but continued to operate
until the end of the FIFA World Cup in Russia.
On March 4, former
Russian intelligence officer and convicted British spy Sergei Skripal, and his
daughter Yulia were allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent, according to British
investigators. Later, London stated that this agent was designed in Russia and
blamed Moscow for being behind the incident based on this assumption. The
Russian side refuted all accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union, nor
Russia had any programs for developing this agent. London expelled 23 Russian
diplomats without providing any evidence and stated that other anti-Russian
measures would follow, after which Moscow took retaliatory measures by ejecting
the same number of the British embassy staff members and ordering the closure
of the UK’s consulate general in St. Petersburg and terminating the activity of
the British Council in Russia.
Source: ITAR-TASS
01-08-2018
