MOSCOW, March 26. /TASS/. Britain, which is leaving the European Union, is trying to force the remaining EU countries to spoil relations with Russia, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Facebook about the possibility of Russian diplomats’ expulsion.
"A country leaving the European Union is exploiting the factor of solidarity and forcing the remaining countries to spoil relations with Russia," Zakharova wrote.
She believes that such a policy is particularly convenient for Britain but not quite meets the interests of the European Union.
"Nobody has canceled Brexit. Divorce procedures are well in progress. When London leaves the EU, it will have no obligations within the framework of a common foreign policy. It may either seek a rapprochement or drift away still farther away at its sole discretion," she went on to say. "As for the countries remaining in the European Union, they will be bound hand and foot by collective commitment to anti-Russian solidarity the British had once imposed on them."
Earlier, The Times said that up to two dozen European countries might follow in London’s footsteps and expel Russian diplomats allegedly connected with intelligence services in retaliation for the poisoning in Britain’s Salisbury of former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia. Germany, Poland, France, the Baltic countries and a number of other states are pointed at as likely participants in this orchestrated campaign.