Cars and limousines of invited foreign ambassadors in Moscow are parked as foreign envoys attend attend briefing at Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, March 21, 2018. A Russian foreign ministry official says Moscow fears that Britain could destroy key evidence in the nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
MOSCOW — The European Union (EU) is recalling its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the nerve-gas attack in Britain earlier this month, reinforcing a united stand against Russia.
After firmly siding with Britain in the escalating conflict, the summit of EU leaders in Brussels decided to take a united measure against Moscow early Friday.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the ambassador “is being recalled for consultations to Brussels.” But he insisted it was a “measure” and not a “sanction,” and that the envoy was not withdrawn as such from the Russian capital.
The 28 European Union leaders said “there is no plausible alternative explanation” for the nerve agent attack in Britain’s Salisbury other than that Russia is “highly likely” responsible.
With a strong statement toward the Kremlin, the 27 leaders threw their weight behind British Prime Minister Theresa May, who contends Russia was responsible for the March 4 attack in Salisbury, England that left a Russian former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, Yulia, in critical condition.
The 28 leaders said at their summit they “will coordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities.”
Lithuania has already said it is considering the expulsion of Russian diplomats.
Meanwhile, Salisbury health officials said the unconscious Skripals remain in critical condition but a police detective, who was exposed when he came to their aid, has been discharged from the hospital.
National Health Service Executive Cara Charles-Barks said details about Detective Sgt. Nick Bailey’s condition would be kept private because of patient confidentiality.
In addition, health officials said 48 other individuals sought advice from the hospital after the nerve agent attack, and have been assessed and given advice.
Nerve agent: Novichok
A leading independent newspaper has reported that Russian criminal groups two decades ago obtained a nerve agent similar to the one that allegedly was used to poison the Skripals.
The Novaya Gazeta said the 1990s probe revealed that Leonid Rink, an expert involved in the development of the nerve agent dubbed Novichok in the West, had sold a few ampules of it to the underworld, including some unidentified Chechen mobsters. It said it happened as Russia was fighting a war against Islamic separatists in Chechnya.
The report also said investigators uncovered the transfers while investigating the 1995 death of a Moscow banker, Ivan Kivelidi, whose business rival used the agent to impregnate the receiver of Kivelidi’s phone. Rink was convicted of providing the agent for the attack but given a suspended sentence.
Putin summons top security officials
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin has met with top security officials to discuss tensions with Britain over the nerve agent incident.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Putin chaired a meeting of the presidential Security Council to discuss “Britain’s unfriendly and provocative policy toward Russia.”
Russia and Britain have engaged in an escalating war of words over the March 4 poisoning.
Britain blames the attack with a military-grade nerve agent on Russia, which denies the accusations as baseless.
London expelled 23 Russian diplomats amid the tension, and Moscow responded in the same way. /kga