Recently, one of the main events which has drawn much attention from the world media is the case of poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia in the UK. It should be recalled that Sergei Skripal, former Colonel and officer of the GRU of the USSR, together with his daughter Julia were discovered in an unconscious state close to The Maltings shopping center in Salisbury on March 4, and taken to the hospital in a critical condition.
Immediately after this accident, the UK started its actions against the Russian Federation. British PM May stated that Russia was involved in the case with an ultimatum, according to which Russia is obliged to provide response within 24 hours. Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected all indictments, and at the same time the Russian embassy sent a note with the request of conducting a joint investigation of the case, but it was almost completely ignored. Britain further announced the measures against Russia, with a stern demand of 23 Russian diplomats to leave the UK, suspension of bilateral contacts with Moscow and withdrawal of invitation to Sergei Lavrov, Russian FM. Also during the UN Security Council meeting, the UK officially accused Russia in violation of the OPCW Convention and blocked the draft statement proposed by Russia on investigation of the case. During the EU summit, Britain openly urged other EU member states to expel Russian diplomats in solidarity with the position of Britain, and also by the unanimous consent to recall the EU ambassador from Russia for 4-week period consultations. After these events, Russia stated that will take retaliatory measures.
However, most of accusations made by Britain have aroused suspicion and disbelief from the Russia`s side and many other countries in terms of inconsistence and constant changes in British statements concerned with the case – starting with the frequent changes in the versions of transportation ways of the toxic substance and ending with the motives of assassination attempt of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Also one of the frequently asked questions is for whom it would be beneficial to eliminate Skripal, because at that time he didn`t represent any interest neither for Russian nor for British intelligence agencies – in different periods of time he had already revealed all his British contacts to the Russians, and the British received all the information he got in the USSR. That`s why some experts make suggestions that the opponents of the current political power in Russia could be responsible for the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal, or even the foreign intelligence services or the third party could be involved in it.
Many Russian experts tend to hold that the constant change of versions is the result of the fact that Britain is unable to provide evidence of Russia`s involvement in this case, but it desperately tries to make Russia look guilty. Many people are surprised with the whole situation because previously there were no obvious prerequisites for the aggravation of relations between two states. At the same time more and more people understand that the current situation is much deeper than a simple incident involving two states, and obviously has a political basis. Evgeny Satanovsky, Russian political scientist, being a guest on Vesti FM radio station expressed ideas which confirm this – according to him, now the West is trying to establish the partnership with Russia in order to achieve the same as they did during Gorbachev`s reign.
However, Russia keeps stubbornly resisting and demonstrates its readiness to response, and the Address of the Russian President to the Federal Assembly serves as a perfect confirmation of that. “We were simply appointed guilty. Fitted to the topic that seemed to be “right.” But the situation is screaming in big letters – we made this dishonest, utterly stupid provocation. It is too obvious today. It is necessary to speak about it publicly – and it is good that we started to do it,” emphasized Evgeny Satanovsky, and it can have only one meaning – Russia will not humbly agree with everything what it is accused of. Russia will seek justice, as this accident has changed its form from an assassination attempt of a single person to a clear provocation towards the other state, and can result in serious consequences both for Russian-British bilateral relations and for the whole global community. Russia has no doubt that Britain will try to convince Europe of the prudence of its actions towards Russia and seek for the support from other European powers. At the same time, Russia hopes for prudence and foresight of European political leaders in their decision-making.
In brief, there’s no doubt Vladimir Putin’s new presidency has confirmed the wide support of majority of people across Russia. In light of this, the conspiracy behind the poisoning case aims to disgrace the new leader of Russia and his ruling legitimacy. This is truly within the routine job of the intelligence services of Britain and its natural ally of the United States.
