LONDON, February 20. /TASS/. The Russian embassy in London has sent a diplomatic note to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office requesting an open investigation into last year’s poisoning incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury, an embassy spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday.
"The document draws the British side’s attention to The Guardian’s February 16 interview with parents of UK citizen Dawn Sturgess, who died last July after being exposed to a nerve agent. In the interview, they accuse the incumbent government of carrying out a non-transparent investigation into the matter," the official said, adding that the diplomatic note was sent on Monday.
"The note stresses that the probe into the Salisbury incident is being carried out under the same non-transparent scenario: the UK side has so far failed to make any official report about investigative measures taken as part of the Skripal case," the spokesperson continued.
"Once again, it was noted that London clearly violated the international law by rejecting Russia’s official right to receive full information about Russian citizens, who remain in isolation under full control of the British authorities, out of the public eye, in an undisclosed location. They are deprived of the possibility to freely communicate and write letters to their relatives, friends, journalists and official diplomatic representatives of Russia, and are not allowed to move freely," he added.
"The Russian side, just like Sturgess’ parents, urges the official London to stop concealing facts and make the course of the investigation public," the spokesperson said. "The embassy will continue demanding that the British government provide full official information about the incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury and ensure consular access to Russian citizens, all the more so since Sergei Skripal’s health has deteriorated, according to media reports."
In total, the Russian embassy in London has sent more than 80 diplomatic notes and requests to various UK state agencies, but has received no substantial answers so far.
Salisbury and Amesbury incidents
According to London's version, on March 4, 2018, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, were exposed to a 'Novichok-class' nerve agent in Salisbury. The British government claimed that Russia was "highly likely" behind the incident. However, Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, adding that programs for developing this substance had never existed in the Soviet Union or Russia. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down failed to pinpoint the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.
On June 30, 2018, two British nationals - Dawn Sturgess and Charles Rowley - were taken to a hospital in Amesbury in critical condition. On July 8, it was announced that Sturgess had died in hospital. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said in a report on September 4 that Sturgess died after being exposed to the same toxic substance as the Skripals.