{"id":75960,"date":"2018-03-26T06:27:17","date_gmt":"2018-03-26T13:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=75960"},"modified":"2018-03-26T06:27:17","modified_gmt":"2018-03-26T13:27:17","slug":"dont-take-the-words-of-the-british-for-granted-russias-uk-envoy-on-skripal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2018\/03\/26\/dont-take-the-words-of-the-british-for-granted-russias-uk-envoy-on-skripal-case\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Don\u2019t take the words of the British for granted\u2019 \u2013 Russia&#8217;s UK envoy on Skripal case"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"article__date\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><time class=\"date date_article-header\">Courtesy RT<\/time><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"article__date\"><time class=\"date date_article-header\">Published time: 22 Mar, 2018 12:11<\/time><time class=\"date date_article-header\">Edited time: 22 Mar, 2018 19:51<\/time><\/div>\n<div class=\"article__short-url\">\n<div class=\"short-url\"><a class=\"short-url__link\" href=\"https:\/\/on.rt.com\/91mo\">Get short URL<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__cover\">\n<div class=\"media  \"><\/div>\n<div class=\"media__footer media__footer_bottom \">\n<div class=\"media__title media__title_arcticle\">Russia&#8217;s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko. \u00a9\u00a0Simon Dawson \/ Reuters<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__summary summary \">When it comes to allegations against Russia, the UK government cannot be trusted, so other nations would be wise to demand proof, Russia\u2019s ambassador in London said, commenting on the Skripal poisoning saga.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article__text text \">\n<p><em>Don\u2019t take the words of the British for granted,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Alexander Yakovenko told journalists during a press conference at the Russian Embassy when asked what his advice to European nations would be on the unfolding UK-Russian conflict.\u00a0<em>I am quoting Ronald Reagan: trust but verify.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media__item \" src=\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.03\/article\/5ab3a028fc7e93f7288b45f3.jpg\" alt=\"\u2018Don\u2019t take the words of the British for granted\u2019 \u2013 Russia's UK envoy on Skripal case\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"arcticle__read-more read-more\">\n<div class=\"read-more__title\">Read more<\/div>\n<p><a class=\"read-more__link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/uk\/421997-may-skripal-russia-diplomat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"read-more__cover\" src=\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.03\/thumbnail\/5ab37047dda4c803408b45b3.jpg\" alt=\"\u00a9 Toby Melville\" \/><span class=\"read-more__footer\">May will tell Europe\u2019s leaders to throw out Russian spies as well<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<p>The ambassador spoke to the media on Thursday to denounce what he called a\u00a0<em>hysterical anti-Russian campaign\u201d<\/em>\u00a0conducted by the British government and media outlets over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and two other people, his daughter Yulia and a police officer, in Salisbury. Prime Minister Theresa May accused the Kremlin of ordering a chemical weapon attack against the man and has been rallying Britain\u2019s allies against Moscow.<\/p>\n<p>Yakovenko accused Britain of fanning up anti-Russian sentiment at home and in other nations by deliberately misrepresenting facts about the case in a way that points the finger at Russia. At the same time, Britain has been stonewalling Russia\u2019s attempts to engage with the probe through the proper channel \u2013 the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW), he said. The\u00a0<em>British side is deliberately ignoring our requests and avoids contact with the embassy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Russian ambassador said OPCW inspectors have finally arrived in Britain to do their part in the investigation of the incident. While Russia does not know the scope of their mandate, Yakovenko said Moscow hopes they will be able to provide answers which Russia has failed to receive from Britain.<\/p>\n<p><em>How that was possible that the British authorities managed to designate the nerve agent use as so-called Novichok [A-234] and its origin so quickly? Could it mean that it\u2019s \u2018highly likely\u2019 that the British authorities already had this nerve agent in their chemical laboratory in Porton Down, which is the largest secret military facility in the UK that has been dealing with chemical weapons? Is it a coincidence that this chemical weapons facility is only eight miles away from the site of the incident? How did doctors decide what antidotes to administer to the victims?\u201d<\/em>\u00a0he asked.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Russian experts familiar with chemical weapons were puzzled\u201d by the speed in identifying the toxic compound. This contradicts statements by Scotland Yard that the investigation of the Skripal case would take weeks or even months, the ambassador said.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtesy RT Published time: 22 Mar, 2018 12:11Edited time: 22 Mar, 2018 19:51 Get short URL Russia&#8217;s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko. \u00a9\u00a0Simon Dawson \/ Reuters When it comes to allegations against Russia, the UK government cannot be trusted, so other nations would be wise to demand proof, Russia\u2019s ambassador in London said, commenting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75960","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75960","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75960\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}