Embassy comment on the anniversary of the Salisbury incident

On 4 March 2018, seven years ago, the English town of Salisbury became a scene for the notorious chemical incident that London exploited to undermine Russia-UK relations and to deliberately sabotage our country’s ties with a number of other states.

The politically motivated nature of what had happened was evident from the outset. The UK government hastily assigned false blame to Russia, refused to liaise with Moscow on the issue via established intergovernmental mechanisms and opted for non-transparent procedures vulnerable to political manipulation.

Now, with the passing of time and in light of recent global events the true scale and significance of this provocation are becoming increasingly clear. The destructive processes, unleashed in 2018, have enabled hostile forces within the UK to perfect their anti-Russian playbook and have therefore contributed to a broader security crisis in Europe.

Now people from a different political party hold power in the UK. Meanwhile the same unsubstantiated allegations - never legally validated even within Britain’s own system - continue to be used under the absurd presumption of guilt in support of a phantom “Russian menace”. This serves as pretext for escalating confrontation and justifying unpopular decisions that harm the British people and many other nations that once placed their trust in the UK.

Yet this path will not lead to the right side of the history.

We will never forget that apart from international implications the Salisbury incident has a very tangible human dimension. The fate of two Russian citizens – Sergei and Yulia Skripal, both caught up in the incident, – remains unknown.

The British authorities continue to withhold information regarding their whereabouts, state of health and legal status. We cannot be certain whether our compatriots are free, whether they require assistance from our country or even whether they are still alive. So far London has failed to provide any satisfactory response to our numerous inquiries. What is ever more concerning is that being designated as key figures in the public inquiry into the death of British citizen Dawn Sturgess, they were prevented on dubious grounds from testifying at the public hearings last autumn.

We will continue to demand credible information from UK authorities regarding Sergei and Yulia Skripal, as well as access to them in order to verify that they are not under any form of coercion. At the same time, given that this provocation was in reality directed against Russia, we will persist in calling on the UK authorities to disclose the truth – not politically driven narratives, but hard facts – about what really happened in Salisbury on 4 March 2018.