There is no factual basis for somewhat meaningful discussion of accusations against Russia maintained by London with regard to the Skripal affair or the death of former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th September, 2018) There is no factual basis for somewhat meaningful discussion of accusations against Russia maintained by London with regard to the Skripal affair or the death of former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"Not only with regard to the Litvinenko case but also with regard to the situation around the Skripals as well as the deaths of other Russian nationals in London, including [former top manager of Russian flag carrier Aeroflot Nikolai] Glushkov, there are no facts whatsoever which could become a basis for meaningful consideration and discussion [on the issue]," Lavrov said after the talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.
Lavrov, however, stressed that Moscow was open to "serious" talks with London on the Skripal case provided that the United Kingdom abandoned its "highly likely" approach.
"I want to emphasize once again that, since the very beginning, both with regard to Litvinenko and the Skripals case, we requested [London] through official channels to launch procedures stipulated in the bilateral convention with the United Kingdom, the Council of Europe convention and, in the situation around the Skripals, the Chemical Weapons Convention," he emphasized.
On March 4, former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury. The United Kingdom and its allies have accused Moscow of having orchestrated the attack with what UK experts claim was the A234 nerve agent, without presenting any proof. Russian authorities have strongly refuted the allegations as groundless and reputedly urged London to cooperate in the probe.
In 2000, Litvinenko, another former Russian security officer working for London, defected to the United Kingdom and six years later died there from what doctors explained was radiation poisoning. According to the UK investigators, the Russian authorities deliberately poisoned him with polonium-210. The investigation, however, failed to prove that the polonium-210 used to poison the former intelligence officer came from Russia. Moscow has dismissed the claims and said that the probe was biased and lacked transparency.
Glushkov, who had been sentenced in absentia in Russia to eight years in prison on embezzlement charges, died in London in mid-March. The UK police are treating the probe into his death as a murder inquiry, while Russia launched its own investigation into the matter.
