LONDON, March 5. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy to the UK has not yet received any response from the British authorities to their inquiries about the circumstances of the incident in Salisbury in 2018, when, according to London’s version, former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent, the embassy said in a statement.
"Over this period of time, the UK authorities have reiterated statements about the use of chemical weapons by Russia so often that they have already become an axiom (which does not need any proof, as you know) for many British people. But it has not made them [statements] any more substantiated or credible. We have not received a single official response from the British side to inquiries about the circumstances of the incident or the conclusions of the investigation," the embassy said.
"Apparently, the reason is that London has no answers beyond a deliberately politicized version of the events that appears to be aimed at deepening the misunderstanding between our countries, so the ‘public’ (but held behind closed doors) investigation into the death of UK national Dawn Sturgess, which the British Home Office announced last year, is unlikely to bring clarity to what had happened," the embassy said, referring to the incident in Amesbury, Salisbury’s neighboring town.
"We have not yet been granted access to Sergey and Yulia Skripal, Russian citizens. There has not even come any rough information from the authorities of the United Kingdom about their condition and whereabouts. Sometimes, media outlets come up with their hypotheses, but it is difficult to trust them. We are seriously concerned about the fate of our compatriots, but we cannot expect any answers from London on this matter either," the Russian embassy stated.
Salisbury and Amesbury incidents
According to the UK version, on March 4, 2018, former Russian intelligence officer Sergey Skripal, convicted in Russia for espionage, and his daughter Yulia were affected by a nerve agent in the town of Salisbury. Later, London claimed that the nerve agent was allegedly being developed in Russia, and used the fact to accuse Moscow of involvement in the incident. Russia has vehemently rejected all accusations. Specialists from the UK’s Porton Down laboratory were unable to determine the origin of the substance that the Skripals were allegedly poisoned with.
Dawn Sturgess and her companion Charlie Rowley on June 30, 2018 were taken to the hospital in Amesbury in critical condition. On July 8, the news arrived Sturgess had died in the hospital. Rowley was discharged on July 20 only to be hospitalized once again; this time diagnosed with meningitis. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons on September 4 said in a report that Sturgess’ death was due to a contact with the same chemical that had earlier affected the Skripals.
On September 5, 2018, then-Prime Minister Theresa May informed the British Cabinet about the conclusions of the investigation, claiming that the two suspects are Russian citizens who carried passports in names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, calling them "GRU agents." Petrov and Boshirov later gave an interview for RT, denying these accusations.