UK Uses Every Chance To Persuade EU To Enhance Anti-Russian Sanctions - Embassy

The UK government continues to look for any opportunity to persuade the European Union to increase pressure on Russia, the press officer of the Russian embassy in London told Sputnik.

LONDON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th October, 2018) The UK government continues to look for any opportunity to persuade the European Union to increase pressure on Russia, the press officer of the Russian embassy in London told Sputnik.

The United Kingdom is the main European lobbyist of the two latest sanctions packages, which could target Russia. The first package, which was adopted on Monday by the Council of the European Union, prescribes that sanctions can be imposed on persons and entities involved in the development and use of chemical weapons anywhere, regardless of their nationality and location. The second package of sanctions relates to cyberattacks.

"We have read the relevant statement by UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt made on October 14 and media reports. They testify that London, being on the verge of withdrawal from the European Union, continues to look for every opportunity to persuade Western Europeans to increase the sanctions pressure on Russia and to complicate the prospects of normalizing Russia-EU relations after Brexit," the press officer said.

The press officer recalled that London has not provided any evidence of Russia's involvement in any crime with the use of chemical weapons or cybertechnologies.

"Given the absence of facts, the UK side has to use insinuations, speculations and unsubstantiated statements," the press officer said, adding that the European Union realizes all this.

Russian-UK relations significantly deteriorated in March when London accused Moscow of having been involved in the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury. Russia has refuted the accusations as unsubstantiated and demanded cooperation in investigation into the incident. London has rejected the offers for cooperation and has since being pushing for tougher sanctions regime on Russia.

Earlier in October, the UK Foreign Office said that the UK authorities assessed "with high confidence" that the Russian military intelligence service GRU was "almost certainly" responsible for a series of cyberattacks on political institutions, media outlets and infrastructure across the globe, including in the United Kingdom. The Russian Foreign Ministry refuted the allegations, saying that the claims were a part of yet another act of propaganda.