Russia doesn’t rule out the possibility that Britain will levy new sanctions in the wake of charges against two Russians over the attack on a former spy and his daughter, but it isn’t afraid of them, Russia’s ambassador to the UN has said.
Britain announced this week that the March 4 attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury was carried out by two Russian military intelligence officers with almost certain approval of senior Kremlin officials. France, Germany, Canada and the United States backed Britain’s assessment.
“We’re not expecting or afraid of anything, but given how things developed over recent years, we do not exclude anything,” Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, told reporters regarding the risk of further sanctions.
“We take it [the allegations] very seriously, and we have been asking for cooperation from the U.K. authorities from day one,” said Nebenzya, speaking to the press following a UN Security Council session.
“There is no GRU by the way, I forgot to tell the U.K. ambassador. It was renamed to the Chief Directorate of the General Staff, it’s no GRU anymore,” the envoy noted.
Reuters contributed reporting to this article.
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