Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claim that the United States “blackmailed” European allies into expelling Russian spies under diplomatic cover is “ludicrous,” according to the top State Department spokeswoman.
“This was an effort started by the [United Kingdom] because we know what happened there — the attempted murder of a British citizen and also his daughter on British soil,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, the acting undersecretary for public affairs, told reporters at Tuesday’s briefing.
U.S. and European officials expelled from their respective nations a combined total of 151 Russian officials, who were branded spies working under diplomatic cover. That wave of diplomatic censures is intended to rebuke Russia for the alleged use of “a military-grade nerve agent” in an attempt to assassinate a former Russian military intelligence officer who worked as a double agent on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Russia has denied responsibility for the incident, with Lavrov even claiming that European officials “apologi[zed]” for participating in the expulsions.
“Truly independent countries in the modern world and in modern Europe are very few,” the top Russian diplomat said Tuesday in response to the expulsions. “When one or two diplomats are asked to leave this or that country, with apologies being whispered into our ears, we know for certain that this is a result of colossal pressure and colossal blackmail, which is Washington’s chief instrument in the international scene.”
Nauert emphasized that the moves came in response to the United Kingdom’s assessment that former spy Sergey Skripal was felled by a chemical weapon developed during the Cold War by the Soviet Union.
“That is a ridiculous comment that he made,” she said, referring to Lavrov. “We believe our country is safer by making these Russians go home. We know that they were not here to do good.”
