Russia demands access to nerve agent in ex-spy case standoff
Source: Associated Press
By GREGORY KATZ and NATALIYA VASILYEVA
24 minutes ago
LONDON (AP) — Russia will only cooperate with Britain on the investigation into last week’s poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter if it receives samples of the nerve agent that is believed to have been used, Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
Sergey Lavrov spoke in response to the British government’s demand for an explanation of the use of a military-grade nerve agent produced in Russia in the attack in the English city of Salisbury, which left 66-year-old Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia in critical condition.
Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday Moscow’s requests to see samples of the nerve agent have been turned down, which he called a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which outlaws the production of chemical weapons. He insisted that Russia is “not to blame” for the poisoning.
He said Moscow is willing to cooperate with the probe but suggested that London would be “better off” complying with its international obligations “before putting forward ultimatums.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/6378dc25de07485087b80ee28db6012c/Russia-demands-access-to-nerve-agent-in-ex-spy-case-standoff
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