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Russian Foreign Ministry slams UK PM’s comments on Skripal poisoning case

Theresa May said it is "highly likely" that Russia is responsible for the poisoning of former intelligence Colonel Sergey Skripal and his daughter

MOSCOW, March 12../TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has dubbed as a ‘circus show’ comments of UK Prime Minister Theresa May on the poisoning of Sergey Skripal, a former colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence, and his daughter.

"This is a circus show in Britain’s parliament," she stressed. "The conclusion is obvious - a next political media campaign based on provocation," Zakharova added.

Earlier, Theresa May said it is "highly likely" that Russia is responsible for the poisoning of Sergey Skripal and his daughter.

Moscow urges London to make public the results of the investigation into the deaths of Alexander Litvinenko and Boris Berezovsky, Zakharova said.

"Before making up new stories, let somebody in the Kingdom tell us what the previous fairy-tales ended in - those about Litvinenko, Berezovsky, Perepilichny and many others who died under mysterious circumstances on British soil," the diplomat said.

Former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Julia on March 4 suffered from the effects of an unidentified nerve agent. They were found in an unconscious condition on a bench near The Maltings shopping center in Salisbury. Both are now in hospital in critical condition.

In 2004, Skripal was arrested by the federal security service FSB, charged, tried and convicted of high treason and stripped of all ranks and awards. In 2010 he was handed over to the United States under an arrangement to exchange persons arrested on spying charges. Later in the same year Skripal settled in Britain.