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Germany expels four Russian diplomats over Salisbury incident

The country’s Foreign Ministry noted that Moscow was not providing assistance to the investigation

© EPA-EFE/FELIPE TRUEBA

BERLIN, March 26. /TASS/. Germany will expel four Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England, the country’s Foreign Ministry said.

"We did not make the decision in a hurry," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter, noting that Moscow was not providing assistance to the investigation.

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"In today’s conditions, we do not rule out anything, but we are ready for everything," a spokesman for the Russian Embassy in Germany Denis Mikerin told reporters.

Earlier in the day, German Government Spokesman Steffen Seibert declined to answer a question on the further measures against Russia, noting that "the discussion on this [in the EU] was underway."

On March 4, former Russian intelligence officer and convicted British spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia were allegedly poisoned with a nerve agent, according to British investigators. Later, London stated that this agent was designed in Russia and blamed Moscow for being behind the incident based on this assumption. The Russian side refuted all accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union, nor Russia had any programs for developing this agent. London expelled 23 Russian diplomats without providing any evidence and stated that other anti-Russian measures would follow, after which Moscow took retaliatory measures by ejecting the same number of the British embassy staff members and ordering the closure of the UK’s consulate general in St. Petersburg and terminating the activity of the British Council in Russia.

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Skripal poisoning case

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