London’s behavior runs counter to “all norms of civilized relations”, the Russian Embassy said.
The British authorities’ rejection of Russia’s requests on the fate of former Russian military intelligence officer convicted in Russia for spying for the UK Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia breaches all norms of civilized relations between the countries, the Russian Embassy said on Tuesday.
“Over the past months the embassy has sent more than 70 notes and letters to the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office and the Home Department,” the document said. Russia’s diplomatic mission regularly asks about the Skripal case during personal contacts with the Foreign Office’s representatives.
Russia asked dozens of questions about the poisoning victims and where they stay now, as well as the symptoms and methods of their treatment, as well as the police investigation, the samples of the substance and the evidence which may shed light on the case. “Almost all the questions, offers and appeals have been ignored. This London’s behavior runs counter to all norms of civilized relations between the countries and is a flagrant violation of simple norms of diplomatic politeness,” the embassy said.
According to the embassy, nearly nine months have passed since the Skripals were poisoned under unclear circumstances, but these Russian citizens “still remain in isolation under full control of the British authorities,” and are deprived of a chance to communicate with their relatives, friends and Russian official representatives, and cannot freely travel.
The UK authorities continue rejecting the embassy’s demand for direct contacts with them to check their health, conditions of stay and whether what is happening to them is upon their good will.
So, London “blatantly violates Russia’s legal right to contact with its citizens under Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Article 36 of the 1965 Bilateral Consular Convention,” it said.
The deprivation of the Skripals’ freedom arouses serious concerns over the observance of their rights enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights.
During the first days after the incident, Russia officially offered London to provide legal assistance and conduct a joint investigation and also requested the UK’s help in connection with a criminal case opened in Russia. Moscow also expressed its readiness to cooperate in line with the procedures of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Britain claims that former Russian military intelligence officer convicted in Russia for spying for the UK Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were affected by a nerve gas of the Novichok class in Salisbury, England, on March 4. The British government claimed that Russia was highly likely involved in this incident. Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had ever had programs for making such agents. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down has failed to establish the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.
