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Showdown on shutdowns: Kremlin vows to strike back if London closes Russian trade mission

The Daily Telegraph reported earlier that the country’s authorities would consider the closure of Russia’s trade mission

MOSCOW, April 2. /TASS/. Russia will take retaliation measures in case of a shutdown of its trade mission in Britain, the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday when asked a respective question.

"Moscow is thoroughly analyzing every unfriendly step taken against the Russian Federation, and each such unfriendly step eventually gets a response, which has a respective formulation. That is why let’s not run ahead, Moscow will not leave such steps unanswered," he said.

The Daily Telegraph wrote earlier that the country’s authorities would consider a shutdown of Russia’s trade mission in London.

The relations between Russia and Britain have deteriorated sharply in the wake of the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury on March 4. London immediately accused Russia of being involved, but failed to produce any evidence.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May rushed to blame Russia for "unlawful use of force" against her country. She identified the alleged substance used in the attack as the so-called Novichok nerve agent, allegedly developed in the former Soviet Union. The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow. Russia has flatly rejected these allegations pointing out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had any programs to develop that substance. In response, Moscow expelled the same number of British diplomats from Russia and ordering to close the British Consulate-General in St. Petersburg and shut down the British Council’s offices in Russia.