Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that he admired the ability of UK diplomatic officials to influence the European Union's and the United States' policies toward Russia over the latter's alleged role in the Salisbury poisoning incident earlier this year, given the looming Brexit.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd September, 2018) Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday that he admired the ability of UK diplomatic officials to influence the European Union's and the United States' policies toward Russia over the latter's alleged role in the Salisbury poisoning incident earlier this year, given the looming Brexit.
According to Lavrov, even though the United Kingdom is set to withdraw from the European Union by March 29, 2019, it has still managed to persuade some EU member states to expel Russian diplomats over the country's alleged responsibility for the poisoning attack in the UK city of Salisbury, as well as influence the United States to introduce new sanctions on Russia in connection with the incident.
"I sincerely take my hat off to the UK diplomats who manage to influence the EU policy toward Russia, and the US policy as well, in a period when their country is leaving the European Union," Lavrov told students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
He went on to say that London had managed to "persuade two-thirds of the European Union to expel one, two, or three Russian diplomats after the United Kingdom [did the same]," despite the fact that the bloc initially demonstrated a "moderate" reaction to the Salisbury incident.
When commenting on the United States' sanctions on Russia that came into force on August 27, Lavrov said that the country "had decided to run ahead of London."
"I think that this showcases the UK diplomats' ability to persuade, and let those who can do the dirty work take the lead," he said.
The minister went on to say that the deterioration of Russian-UK relations was a "sad story," since nothing "irreparable" had, in fact, happened.
The United Kingdom has repeatedly accused Russia of being responsible for the poisoning of former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, which took place in Salisbury on March 4. While Russia has denied these allegations, saying that the UK side failed to provide sufficient proof, London has repeatedly called on its partners to step up pressure on Russia. From the United States, this came in the form of sanctions. A second package of sanctions is expected to come into force in November.
