LONDON, June 16. /TASS/. London still refuses to cooperate with Moscow in investigating Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov’s murder and the alleged poisoning of former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in the UK told the Russian media.
"Great Britain remains deafeningly silent, still refusing to provide answers to questions by the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and the embassy about the progress concerning Moscow’s requests about the murder of a Russian citizen and the attempted murder of Russian citizens on British soil," the spokesman said. "We must say that Great Britain has shown a zero level of cooperation in investigating these high-profile cases. We believe that it is harmful to law enforcement activities aimed at finding the truth and restoring justice," the embassy added.
Glushkov’s murder
Glushkov was found dead at his London home on March 12. The Metropolitan Police said he had died from compression to the neck. At the same time, according to media reports, the businessman was strangled with a dog lead so investigators believe that the killer could have aimed at giving his death the appearance of suicide. On March 16, Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case over Glushkov’s murder.
Skripal incident
According to London, Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations.
The British media initially reported that the Skripals were in critical condition and their odds of survival were minimal but both managed to recover. Yulia was discharged from the hospital in early April but her whereabouts have been unknown since then.
The Russian embassy in London many times requested the British authorities provide consular access to the Skripals who are both Russian citizens but all requests were rejected. "Considering all the facts, we now have more reasons to qualify this situation as an abduction of the two Russian nationals. We will continue to seek the truth and demand answers from the British side," Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Alexander Yakovenko said in this regard.