- Russia Expels 23 British Diplomats, Escalating Row Over Ex-Spy’s Poisoning
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The UK Foreign Office has admitted it deleted the tweet which directly stated that the nerve agent, identified by the UK as A-234 – also known as Novichok- used in the Salisbury poisoning of the Skripals, came direct from Russia.
This week British government scientists admitted they couldn’t tell where the poison came from, undermining a number of claims to come out of the Foreign Office.
London has directly accused the Kremlin on at least three occaisions of being behind the chemical attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) itself stated: “Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.”
However, the tweet was deleted and an FCO statement said: “An HMA Moscow briefing on 22 March was tweeted in real time ... One of the tweets was truncated & did not accurately report our Ambassador’s words. We have removed this tweet.”
The Foreign Office has not yet deleted a tweet in which the UK's ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, reiterates the accusation of Moscow being behind the poisoning.
Bizarrely, the Foreign Office denies Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson claimed the novichock “categorically” came from Russia, despite a recorded interview clearly showing he did.
The UK Government has repeatedly blamed Russia and said the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will back them. However, Moscow denies all culpability. Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Britain would have to apologize to Russia for its “mad accusations”.
Britain has also convinced 28 other states to expel Russian diplomats with its claims. Johnson could also be in hot water after he denied making claims Russia was behind the attack.
The row between Russia and Britain is reaching boiling point as officials from the OPCW meet Russian representatives on Wednesday.
