The show must go on: London needs spy saga to keep anti-Russia sanctions in place, says MP

MOSCOW, March 21. /TASS/. The poisoning allegations regarding former Russian intelligence officer and British spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are very handy for London in its push to stop any possible lifting of anti-Russian sanctions, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma (lower house), Pyotr Tolstoy said on Tuesday.

"What is happening in Europe now - the vulgar and utterly unacceptable verbal shenanigans aimed at Russia - has broken all the imaginable bounds of decency," Tolstoy wrote in his Telegram channel.

"Still, British politicians who are making these declarations incompatible with their high-[ranking] status will have to admit sooner or later they were wrong, the same way that [the former US Secretary of State] Colin Powell, who waved a vial with some substance at the UN Security Council 15 years ago, had to do eventually," Tolstoy emphasized. "And I’m confident Theresa May will be making [such] apologies to Russia."

He believes the cause for the situation is simple and obvious. "The pathos of the [anti-Russian] sanctions has faded away and so has the topic of Ukraine," he said. "And even if there had been no incident with the Skripals, they would have cooked up something else."