MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Paris has failed to answer the questions posed by Russia over the Skripal poisoning, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on her Facebook page.
"France has failed to respond to the questions posed by the Russian side over the Skripals’ case," she wrote. "Explaining its position, the French foreign ministry called the questions groundless and said that the UK had thoroughly informed France on its investigation."
Zakharova pointed out that Paris must have forgotten that London had informed it about findings by the Porton Down laboratory (that recognized that it was impossible to establish the Russian origin of the agent in the Skripals’ poisoning case), that were later disavowed by the laboratory itself.
"This is complete, utter collapse of the ‘coalition,’" she commented on this situation. Earlier, the Russian Embassy in Paris sent a note to the French foreign ministry, containing a list of questions on the Skripals’ case. These questions concerned the grounds on which France was involved in the investigation, what role French experts played in it and on what basis the Russian origin of the agent that was used in Salisbury was established.
On March 4, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury. Police said they had been exposed to a nerve agent. Both are in the hospital in a critical condition.
The UK accused Russia of being involved, but failed to produce any evidence. UK Prime Minister Theresa May on March 14 accused Russia of "unlawful use of force" against her country. She said that 23 Russian diplomats would be expelled from the country within one week and that all planned high-level bilateral contacts had been suspended.