U.K. spy attackExpelled Russian diplomats head home as U.K. mulls further poisoning response

Published 21 March 2018

Twenty-three Russian diplomats who were ordered out of Britain in response to the poisoning of a former spy with a deadly nerve agent are leaving the Britain. In addition to expelling the Russian diplomats, Britain has suspended high-level bilateral contacts with Moscow and announced that British ministers and the royal family will not attend the soccer World Cup in Russia this summer.

Twenty-three Russian diplomats who were ordered out of Britain in response to the poisoning of a former spy with a deadly nerve agent are leaving the country, media reports said.

The diplomats, who Prime Minister Theresa May said were spies, had been given a week to leave Britain as tension mounted over what officials say was the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War II.

Three buses with diplomatic license plates left the Russian Embassy in London in the morning on 20 March as embassy workers waved, Reuters reported.

A patriotic imperial-era Russian march played as the buses carrying diplomats and their families left for the airport, state-run Russian news agency TASS reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was not scheduled to meet with the returning diplomats, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“It seems there are no such meetings on [Putin’s] schedule at the moment,” Peskov told reporters when asked.

If Putin were to meet with the diplomats, he would be thumbing his nose at Britain amid heightened tension over the poisoning of former Russian intelligence agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal remain in critical condition after they were found collapsed on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain says they were exposed to a Soviet-designed military-grade nerve agent from a series known as Novichok, and blames Moscow for the attack. Russia denies involvement.

The British National Security Council was due to meet on March 20 to discuss possible new measures against Russia over the incident.

In addition to expelling the Russian diplomats, Britain has suspended high-level bilateral contacts with Moscow and announced that British ministers and the royal family will not attend the soccer World Cup in Russia this summer.