Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia is likely to retaliate in kind against the UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats from the country in response to the attempted murder of ex-Russian spy Sergey Skripal and his daughter, who worked as a double agent for the British government until his capture in 2006. Later he settled in the United Kingdom after his release from Russia in a spy exchange program.
The United Kingdom blamed Russia for the incident and gave a 24hr. ultimatum to explain the incident; whether the poisoning was carried out by the Russia government or did it lose control of the poisoning substance, which was Novichok, a powerful nerve agent developed by the former Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s. As Russia remained defiant and denied the allegations, Theresa May decided to expel 23 diplomats among other measures.
When asked by reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana whether Russia would respond by ousting British diplomats, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said, “We will, of course”.
