UN Security Council convenes for emergency meeting due to poisoning of double agent
The UN Security Council will hold an open emergency meeting to discuss the case of the poisoning of ex-GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
This was reported by Sky News.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 22:00 Moscow time.
Earlier it was reported that the British authorities asked the UN Security Council to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the “Skripal case.” “The UK has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to update Security Council members on the progress of the investigation into the nerve agent attack in Salisbury,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement.
On March 12, the head of the British Cabinet of Ministers, Theresa May, said that the country's government had come to the conclusion that responsibility for the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 5 in Salisbury most likely lay with Russia. She also said that the victims were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok, which was developed in the Russian Federation.
May said that the UK is waiting until the evening of Tuesday, March 13, for an explanation from Moscow in connection with the poisoning of the ex-GRU officer. In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the Russian side will not respond to London’s ultimatum in connection with the “Skripal case” until the UK fulfills its obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention and provides access to the substance , which poisoned a former GRU officer and his daughter.
Since London did not wait for a response to its ultimatum from Moscow, May announced a partial severance of relations with Russia. Russian diplomats in London were given a week to prepare for home, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had his invitation to visit London revoked, and members of the British royal family and the country's top officials made a demonstrative decision to boycott the upcoming 2018 FIFA World Cup, which will be held in Russia this year.
Double agent Sergei Skripal received asylum in the UK after an exchange of intelligence officers between the US and the Russian Federation in 2010.
The UN Security Council is holding an emergency meeting following the poisoning of a double agent.