LONDON, March 6. /TASS/. The Russian Embassy in the UK has voiced a supposition that the reaction of the British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, to the mysterious poisoning of the former officer of Russia’s military intelligence GRU, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yuliya in London on Sunday testified to preparedness for a new anti-Russian campaign.
"We are impressed by the statement of the Foreign Secretary in Parliament today," the embassy said in a statement. "The Foreign Secretary spoke in such a manner as if the investigation was already over and Russia was found responsible for what had happened in Salisbury."
"We regret that instead of a proper official clarification on the issue the Foreign Secretary chose to threaten Russia with retribution," the embassy said. "Looks like the script of a yet another anti-Russian campaign has been already written."
As Johnson spoke earlier on Tuesday in the House of the Commons, he drew parallels between the case of Skripal, in which nothing was proven yet, and the case of the former FSB officer, Alexander Litvinenko, who lived in a self-imposed exile in London from 2001 and until his bizarre death at the end of 2006.
Johnson had to admit that it was too early yet to make conclusions on what had happened in Salisbury where Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yuliya, 33, had been found unconscious on Sunday sitting on a bench in The Maltings shopping mall.
He threatened with more sanctions, however, and said Russia was involved in "a host of malign activities".
On Tuesday, Skripal and his daughter were in a critical condition in an intensive care ward at hospital while the Scotland Yard experts were trying to identify the substance the poisoners had used.
The Russian Federal Security Service [FSB] arrested Skripal in 2004 on charges of high treason and sentenced him to thirteen years in jail in 2006. In 2010, he and another three people serving sentences for treason were swapped for the persons arrested for alleged espionage in the US .
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday the Russian President’s Administration did not have any information on what the incident involving Skripal might be linked to.
He also said the Russian authorities had not received any requests for collaboration in investigating the incident but he reaffirmed Moscow’s openness for joint actions.