Russia Summons British Ambassador amid Skripal Case
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The Russian Foreign Ministry told Sputnik on Tuesday it had summoned UK Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Teresa May accused Russia of involvement in the poisoning of former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, calling the incident an "indiscriminate and irresponsible action against the United Kingdom."
The nerve agent, she said, had been developed in Russia. The Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, was summoned to the British Foreign Ministry in connection with the case of alleged poisoning, Sputnik reported.
In turn, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters that Moscow hadn't received a formal, substantive request from London to answer questions regarding Skripal's death. According to him, Russia will respond to such a request if it is sent in accordance with the norms of the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Russian ex-spy and MI6 double agent Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious last week at a shopping center in Salisbury. Both of them remain in critical condition.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that Moscow has no information on what could have caused the apparent attack and added that country was ready to cooperate with the investigation.
Skripal was convicted of cooperating with the UK intelligence service MI6 in 2006 and sentenced to 13 years. In 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pardoned Skripal as part of a spy swap program with the US, and the ex-spy moved to the UK.
