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Russian embassy says received no official extradition inquiries over Salisbury incident

Russia’s embassy in London says it received no official inquiries from the British side concerning extradition of Russian nationals suspected in involvement in the Salisbury incident

LONDON, August 13. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy in London said on Monday it has received no official inquiries from the British side concerning extradition of Russian nationals suspected in involvement in the Salisbury incident.

"Firstly, it should be made clear that the Embassy has not received any official queries from the British side to that effect so far. All such leaks are based on unverifiable information from anonymous sources," the embassy said. "As to the matter, we have to note again that we are witnessing another case of deliberate distortion of Russian legislation. Let’s put the record straight."

The embassy cited the Russian constitution, which has it that no Russian citizen can be deported from Russia or extradited to another state. "It is clear that no one is going to amend Russia’s fundamental law to conform to the interests of the UK government," it stressed.

Parallels with ‘Litvinenko case’

The Russian embassy noted that the British media tend to draw parallels between the Salisbury incident and the so-called "Litvinenko case," alleging that "by refusing in 2007 to extradite Andrey Lugovoy, who was groundlessly blamed here for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, Russia had been harbouring a "dangerous criminal." The same, according to the embassy, "is automatically applied to the "Skripals case."

"We would like to remind that in July 2007 the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation informed the British side that Russian law enforcement agencies would be ready to open a criminal case in relation to Andrey Lugovoy, if the British side shared all the necessary evidence. Moreover, they repeatedly expressed their readiness to cooperate with the British authorities in order to work out a mutually acceptable decision based on the rule of law. However, London refused to cooperate and started politicizing this purely criminal case and introduced anti-Russian sanctions," the embassy said.

Moscow’s readiness for cooperation

The embassy emphasized that Moscow is "ready to constructively engage with the UK to investigate the Salisbury incident, which has affected Russian nationals." "But we also assume that the British side should respect Russian legislation and be prepared to cooperate with Russia on the principle of reciprocity. We have already made the necessary steps as the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation submitted earlier to the Home Office two requests for legal assistance in the criminal case opened by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation on the attempted murder of the Russian national Yulia Skripal," the embassy noted.

Salisbury incident

Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia for spying for the UK but later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, England on March 4. Police said they were exposed to a nerve agent.

Later on, London claimed that the Novichok-class toxin had been allegedly developed in Russia. The UK rushed to accuse Russia of being involved, while failing to furnish any evidence. Moscow refuted the accusations stating that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had ever done research on that toxic chemical. Specialists from Britain’s army laboratory said later they were unable to identify the origin of the substance used to poison the Skripals.