MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. The British embassy in Moscow has told former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal’s niece Viktoria that no response to her visa application has been received from London yet, as she herself told Rossiya-1’s 60 Minutes program.
"As for my visa application, I was told that London has not responded yet," she said.
Earlier on Thursday, Viktoria said she had had a telephone call with her cousin Yulia Skripal. Viktoria informed her she planned to come to London on Monday if she received a visa, but her cousin replied that "no one will give you a visa."
Skripal saga
On March 4, Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia.
- Britain claims to have conveyed Russia’s offer of consular assistance to Yulia Skripal
- Lavrov: Russia to accept results of probe into Skripal case if given chance to participate
- Yulia Skripal says she's regaining strength daily — UK police
- Skripal’s niece claims to have had telephone call with Yulia Skripal — media
- Moscow insists Russian experts join Skripal case investigation
However, the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats and announced other restrictive measures against Moscow without presenting any evidence of its involvement in the incident. In retaliation to the UK’s steps, Russia expelled 23 British diplomats, closed the British consulate general in the city of St. Petersburg, while the British Council had to shut down its operations in Russia.
On March 26, in the wake of the Skripal incident, a number of EU member countries, the United States, Canada and Australia announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats. Washington expelled 60 diplomatic workers and closed the Russian consulate in Seattle.
The Russian Foreign Ministry later announced retaliatory measures against counties that had expelled Russian diplomats. In particular, Moscow expelled 60 US diplomats and closed the US consulate general in the city of St. Petersburg. The United Kingdom was requested to reduce the number of its diplomatic staff in Russia so that it would match the number of Russian diplomats in Great Britain.