Roman Poliakov

A man and a young woman were sprawling about on a bench in one of the parks of Salisbury, southwestern England. Everything seemed fine about this picture, but both of them, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, were at that very moment unconscious after being exposed to a devastating nerve agent.

The emergency team arrives, miraculously having the exact right antidote with them. How come they know what the chemical agent is without running even the basic tests? In no time, British Prime Minister Theresa May starts shaking her fist at the Parliament claiming Russia is “highly likely” behind the attack. Just a “highly likely” and a few comic-book style PowerPoint slides, this is the whole batch of evidence London could present. It might be credible in May’s fevered imagination, but not for those having common sense. Convicting a petty pickpocket takes months, but just hours to find Russia guilty of using a nerve agent. Quite enough for the Brits to get to the second part of its hypocritical pre-designed plan.

Flashback to history. In 2003, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair was swearing to God that Iraq was stuffed with weapons of mass destruction. It all was proved bluff, but Blair’s actor skills were on par with what May is showing today. The truth was revealed and Blair had nothing more to offer than a clumsy “sorry.” A nice deal for the Brits with hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed, tormented to death in British state-sponsored torture facilities, millions turned into refugees with no hope for tomorrow, a country burned to ashes in exchange for a sorry. London is used to living like there is no tomorrow, and if tomorrow comes exposing the lies, well, there’s at most a sorry at hand.

Then followed destruction of Libya, dirty games with ISIS in Syria, supported coup in Kiev, just to mention a few. And how about London blaming Russia for alleged meddling in elections, including the Brexit referendum? Just like now, no evidence, just empty accusations. Meanwhile, British company, Cambridge Analytica had a good deal of a role in manipulating votes in numerous countries. Nigeria also found a target on its back. It fits perfectly into London’s aggressive strategy with so-called independent but state-controlled British mass media happily tuning in to the propaganda hysteria.

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No one has so far seen even a shred of evidence of Russia’s alleged involvement, which is unsurprising since there was not a single motive for Moscow to even think of such a hideous crime. Why would the Kremlin go for it just shortly before the presidential elections and hosting the FIFA World Cup? Skripal did his time in prison for espionage, was then pardoned and exchanged, becoming obviously of no interest for Moscow anymore, but “highly likely” of interest for the UK. After all, London has a long record of interference in domestic affairs of sovereign states, undermining governments, sponsoring assassinations, carrying out clandestine operations globally. Ask any former British colony, and you’ll surely hear London is ready to go too far to achieve its goals.

The Skripal incident left everyone shell-shocked. The cynicism of the perpetrators made all of us wonder whether there is still a place where you can feel secure and a government you can trust. Moscow calls for a fair investigation. Cooperation between Russia and the UK might play a significant role in establishing security regionally and globally, we could work together. It is foolish for London to pursue momentary political whims instead.

Moscow is fully intended to get to the bottom of the Skripal case and insists on involving the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the investigation. When faced with questions, London just spits out a new round of groundless accusations. It’s mind-boggling how UK’s Porton Down military labs could not trace the origin of the nerve agent, but the politicians had already had all the answers ready. UK authorities may shrivel like slugs in salt all they want, but Moscow is determined to dot the i’s and cross the t’s here.

•Poliakov is Press Attaché, Embassy of Russia