Embassy Statement on the situation with the Russian citizens Sergei and Yulia Skripal
Today marks exactly six months since the Russian citizens Sergei and Yulia Skripal were taken to Salisbury District Hospital under obscure circumstances. Ever since, they have been kept in isolation and under full control of British authorities. They remain out of the public eye at an unknown location, unable to communicate freely with their relatives, friends, journalists or Russian officials, deprived of the freedom of movement. The British authorities have been continuously refusing the Embassy to establish direct contact with the Skripals in order to verify their actual health situation, the conditions in which they are held and, most importantly, to ascertain to which extent their isolation is voluntary.
Thus, the United Kingdom continues to blatantly violate Russia’s lawful right to communicate with its citizens in accordance with Article 36 of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and Article 36 of the 1965 bilateral Consular Convention. Moreover, the de-facto deprivation of liberty of the Skripals is highly questionable from the point of view of observance of their rights confirmed in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Days after the incident Russia, offered every kind of assistance to the United Kingdom. We suggested to launch a joint investigation of the incident, we submitted a request for legal assistance in the framework of the criminal case opened in Russia, and we expressed our willingness to cooperate under established OPCW procedures.
Over these months, the Embassy has sent more than 70 Notes Verbales and letters to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Home Office and the Police. We regularly raise the Skripals case during our meetings with FCO officials. We have put dozens of questions concerning the whereabouts of the Russian citizens, symptoms of their poisoning, methods of medical treatment, conduct of the police investigation. We asked to provide samples of the biomaterials and the chemical agent allegedly used, and to present the evidence which could help to establish the truth.
Nearly all of our questions, suggestions and queries have been ignored. Such attitude by the British authorities contradicts every principle of civilized relations between states and amounts to a blatant violation of basic diplomatic courtesy.
As before, Russia intends to vigorously pursue the efforts on establishing the truth on what happened in Salisbury and to demand that the British authorities present all information on the incident, provide access to the Russian citizens and launch a genuinely transparent investigation in cooperation with Russian experts.
Question: Mr Vershinin, following the UN General Assembly session, it was stated that, in the wake of the visa scandal, several UN General Assembly committees could be transferred from New York to another country. Do you think it is possible?
Sergey Vershinin: I think this is feasible, but the decision should be taken by the General Assembly. This is not the first time the United States has violated its obligations under the UN Charter and the agreement on the location of the organisation’s central bodies in the United States. As you may be aware, this is not just a question of this year or today. We have been raising this issue for many years, specifically, since 2004, in the special UN Committee on Relations with the Host Country, because there were similar incidents then, too.
On 25 September, the Metropolitan Police published new data on blood tests taken in March 2018 from individuals that might have been affected by a nerve agent in Salisbury. The samples did not reveal any traces of exposure.
Leaving aside the question of why the tests have been carried out only now, let us point out that the absence of traces of “Novichok” does not help to support the official British version of the incident.
But there is another aspect to the news.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Russian Federation and the Republic of Turkey as guarantors of the Astana format held a trilateral meeting on the margins of the 74th meeting of UN General Assembly.
The Ministers:
1. Reaffirmed the strong commitment of the Astana guarantors to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic and emphasized that these principles should be respected by all sides.
These days, the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly opens up. So does a new international “political season”.
The session begins at a highly symbolic historical moment. Next year we will celebrate two great and interconnected anniversaries – the 75th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic and Second World Wars, and the establishment of the UN.
Question: How would you comment on the plans by Charlie Rowley, a victim of the Amesbury poisonings, to initiate judicial proceedings against the Russian authorities? Answer: As far as we understand, these plans are at a very preliminary stage. A lawsuit specifically against the Russian Government is but one of the options considered by Mr Rowley’s lawyers. For our part, we fully share Charlie’s desire to establish truth regarding his poisoning that also resulted in the death of his partner Dawn Sturgess. Mr Rowley is seeking clarity over the “unanswered questions”, which is, incidentally or not, the title of the Embassy’s own report with questions to the British authorities.
According to media reports, a large-scale drone attack was launched in the early hours of September 14 against oil refineries of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company Saudi Aramco near the cities of Abqaiq and Khurais in the eastern part of the Kingdom. The Houthi Ansar Allah movement, now fighting against forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Arabian Coalition supporting him in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
President of the Islamic Republic of Iran H.E. Hassan Rouhani, President of the Russian Federation H.E. Vladimir Putin and President of the Republic of Turkey H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gathered in Ankara on 16 September 2019 for a Tripartite Summit.
Moscow has taken note of the Arab countries’ highly negative reaction to the statement made by Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu regarding his intention to extend Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley.
We share concerns over these Israeli plans, the implementation of which can lead to a dramatic escalation of tensions in the region and undermine hopes for a long awaited peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
12 September 2019 marks exactly one year and half since Russian national Nikolay Glushkov was murdered in London under mysterious circumstances. We regret to state that the British side has failed to provide any meaningful reply to our numerous enquiries. Since April 2018 the Home Office has been ignoring the official request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation for legal assistance over Russia’s own criminal case into the death of Nikolay Glushkov. The British authorities have also been silent regarding the Embassy’s repeated proposals to arrange a meeting between the Russian Ambassador and the Met Police Commissioner or hold law-enforcement experts’ bilateral contacts.
Tweet Follow @russianembassy