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London declines to provide fingerprints of suspects in Skripal case — Foreign Ministry

British Ambassador to Moscow Laurie Bristow has stated during a meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry that London would not provide fingerprints of two male suspects in the Skripal case

MOSCOW, September 5. /TASS/. British Ambassador to Moscow Laurie Bristow has stated during a meeting in the Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday that London would not provide fingerprints of two male suspects in the Skripal case, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova informed TASS.

"The Russian Foreign Ministry has requested that the British ambassador to Moscow provide fingerprints of men that London called suspects in the Skripal case and connected them to Russia," the diplomat informed. "The British ambassador stated that the British side would not provide these materials."

Zakharova added that London also declined to share any other information related to the case, including the suspects’ ID numbers, and their personal information. "We hope that Interpol, at least, will deliver this information to us," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. Earlier she stated that the suspects’ names "say nothing" to Russia.

The British side has refused to respond to requests of the Russian embassy concerning the information on two suspects in the Skripal case, she said. 

"The British side did not provide any answers to our diplomats’ requests concerning the information that was published," the diplomat noted.

According to her, so far, Moscow knows only "names and surnames of the suspects, there are photos, but nothing more: no passport numbers, no visa numbers, no extra data." "Why this information has not been reflected today, not publically, not during the contact between our embassy and the British side, is a big mystery," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stressed. Earlier, she stated that the suspects’ names "say nothing" to Russia.

May told the UK parliament on Wednesday that the Crown Prosecution Service was ready to charge two Russian citizens - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - with an attempt on the lives of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Reports also stated that the British police would go ahead with inquiries into the Salisbury and Amesbury poisonings as parts of one case. May added that the operation was "approved at a senior level of the Russian state."

On March 4, former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, were affected by a nerve gas of the Novichok class in Salisbury. The British government claimed that Russia might have been involved in the incident. Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, adding that programs for developing this substance had never existed in the Soviet Union or Russia.

Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton down has failed to identify the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.