Challenged on death of Dawn Sturgess, Russia’s ambassador appears to laugh and dismisses inquiry

The household of Dawn Sturgess, who died six years agone aft coming into interaction with Novichok, person been calling connected Vladimir Putin to talk to the enquiry aft her decease successful the Salisbury poisonings.

I enactment their petition straight to Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, successful arsenic portion of a wide-ranging sit-down interrogation that volition beryllium broadcast connected Sunday.

“I hardly judge President Putin volition spell to Britain conscionable to attest something,” helium said.

The UK authorities holds Russia, and 2 Russian agents, known arsenic Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, liable for the attack.

Andrei Kelin questioned the request for an inquiry. “Why resistance this past truthful long?”

He besides rejected suggestions Petrov oregon Borishov should attend, saying the men had already fixed answers connected TV - referring to a 2018 interview they gave connected Russian authorities TV successful which they claimed they had conscionable been visiting Salisbury Cathedral.

That assertion was mocked by immoderate successful Russia. UK officials called the interrogation “risible”.

Challenged with the information that the UK, US, France, Germany, Canada each judge the onslaught was carried retired by Russia with Novichok manufactured successful Russia, Kelin said that “too galore governments” were progressive and dismissed their allegation arsenic “nonsense“.

Pressed to springiness a effect to the Sturgess family, the ambassador appeared to laugh, saying: “I person ne'er met this household … If idiosyncratic has died, of people we are acrophobic astir that.”

On Ukraine, Kelin accused the UK of “waging war” connected Russia by supporting the state with weapons and resources. If Zelensky “won’t negociate with us, fine”, helium said. “He volition suffer much and much terrain.”

This week, the Ukrainian president published a alleged victory plan to effort to bring the struggle to an extremity adjacent year.

It includes a ceremonial petition to articulation Nato and the lifting of bans connected long-range strikes with Western-supplied weapons heavy into Russia.

Challenged connected Russia’s amerciable penetration and stalemate successful the war, the ambassador said Zelensky “does not privation bid … helium continues to inquire for much and more; Nato, EU assistance, defence packages.

“Anything, but thing astir negotiations astatine all.”

Kyiv, backed by its allies, has ever rejected immoderate suggestions of dialog aft the Russian invasion. They judge that would mean the imperishable nonaccomplishment of Ukrainian territory.

Western governments judge that Putin is nether rising unit astatine home, with expanding casualties and the immense outgo of the war. Even Moscow’s concern ministry has acknowledged the aggravated strain connected the economy.

But Kelin claims Russia is surviving “absolutely mean life”.

Asked if the suffering connected some sides kept him awake astatine night, helium said: “No 1 likes the war." He said it could halt if the West stopped supplying arms to Ukraine.

“We are not conscionable going to say, OK, [from] time we bash not sprout each other. We won’t.”

On Friday, Keir Starmer reiterated his enactment for Ukraine. “We person ever said that it is for the Ukrainian radical to determine their ain aboriginal truthful we’re clear, unneurotic with President Zelensky, that the lone acceptable result is simply a sovereign Ukraine and a conscionable peace.”

He besides said Russia was getting weaker, with the warfare soaking up 40% of its budget, and the authorities believing determination were much than 600,000 dormant oregon wounded Russians, and different 500,000 casualties predicted by the extremity of the year.

With reports successful caller days that North Korean troops are backing the Kremlin successful the conflict, Kelin was challenged connected Russia’s reliance connected pariah states similar North Korea and Iran.

“For us, it’s mean people, we person been friends, and we person a batch of communal interests with North Korea and Iran … Anything atrocious - we bash not spot it.”

And connected the American election, with conscionable weeks to go, the ambassador claimed the victor didn’t marque a quality astatine all. He said determination was a “two-party consensus” connected Russia - “and this is anti-Russian sentiment”.

The ambassador said that Russia had changed its atomic doctrine successful effect to conversations among Western allies astir allowing Ukraine to usage long-range missiles supplied by them to occurrence into Russia.

Russia present says it would see an onslaught from a non-nuclear authorities that’s backed by a nuclear-armed 1 to beryllium a "joint attack". That has been construed arsenic a menace to usage atomic weapons successful Ukraine.

Jens Stoltenberg, the erstwhile Nato boss, said the West had “called Putin’s bluff” implicit atomic threats - implying it had crossed galore of Putin’s reddish lines without thing happening.

Kelin said Stoltenberg’s connection itself was “a bluff” - adding Russia would support itself “with each the means that are successful our disposal, and judge me, determination are tons of them.”

It is hard to overstate the interaction of the Salisbury attacks connected the fraught narration betwixt the UK and Russia.

A elder fig progressive successful the UK authorities effect told maine it was a “huge tipping point.

“It was shocking successful the information that the Russians were trying to termination radical connected our soil, but also, truthful blatantly blessed for america to cognize that it was them,” they said, pointing to the usage of Novichok, known to beryllium manufactured and utilized by the Russian state.

Only a twelvemonth before, then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had gone to Moscow successful the anticipation of a “reset” of the narration betwixt the 2 countries.

But different elder root told me: “we simply couldn’t person a mean narration with them again with that successful the background”.

They described the poisonings arsenic worse than thing that had happened successful the Cold War. “The contention was beauteous brutal then, but this benignant of happening was wholly unacceptable.”

More than 20 Western allies expelled diplomats and spies from their countries successful effect aft a bout of frantic diplomacy by Theresa May’s government, including pushing erstwhile President Trump to act.

One fig recalls, ‘it was beauteous hairy astatine the time, a batch of Europeans didn’t privation to bash it. Trump personally didn’t privation to bash it but was persuaded to bash so.”

The UK insisted that the announcement of the expulsions from each state was made astatine precisely the aforesaid time, with lone the UK alert of however galore Russians each authorities planned to bid to leave.

The fearfulness successful Downing Street was that Trump would not beryllium consenting to instrumentality drastic enactment if helium had known the numbers each European state were readying to expel.

The UK authorities present believes that Russia is the fig 1 menace to the UK’s security.

Labour said successful the election: “the defence of the UK starts successful Ukraine,” and ministers judge the aforesaid present they are successful government.

The UK has been astatine the forefront of starring the Western backing of Ukraine since the penetration successful 2022, and has sent billions of pounds worthy of weapons and resources to enactment the effort.

It’s fixed staunch governmental backing to President Zelensky - but don’t expect a determination connected his petition to usage Western long-range missiles for astatine slightest a fewer weeks.

There are concerns successful authorities astir Russia expanding its efforts astatine sabotage connected UK soil, with the brag of MI5 informing this week Russia was much and much engaged successful “arson, sabotage and much unsafe actions conducted with expanding recklessness”.

Back successful 2018, erstwhile the poisonings happened, the UK had nary mode of predicting however Russia’s aggression would turn into what 1 root calls an “off-the-charts bigger crisis” - with its amerciable penetration of Ukraine.

But arsenic the Salisbury enquiry delves into the interaction of the poisoning connected 1 guiltless British family, its value arsenic a infinitesimal of the rupture successful relations is wide too.

That infinitesimal captured successful a speech understood to person taken spot betwixt the UK nationalist information advisor astatine the time, Mark Sedwill, and his Russian counterpart aft Western allies had expelled much than 300 diplomats successful effect unneurotic -

That’s caught successful a speech betwixt UK nationalist information advisor Mark Sedwill and his Russian counterpart astatine the time, aft Western allies had expelled 300 diplomats.

“You look to privation to instrumentality america backmost to the days of the Cold War,” the Russian said.

“Well, Yuri, astatine slightest we each knew the rules then,” Sedwill responded.

You tin ticker our interrogation with Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin time astatine 09:00 connected Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg connected BBC One. We'll besides speech to Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Top photograph credit: Getty Images