The Foreign Ministry’s request came on the same day that Russian diplomats and their families returned to Moscow on two planes after being expelled from the United States, part of the international fallout from the March 4 attack on the Skripals.
Following a wave of similar expulsions ordered by Britain and numerous allies, the United States ordered 60 Russian diplomats out of the country.
Russian news agencies said the diplomats kicked out of the United States returned on two flights that landed Sunday at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
One carried diplomats from the Russian Embassy in Washington; aboard the other were diplomats from the Russian Consulate in New York and Russia’s United Nations mission.
More than two dozen countries and NATO have expelled Russian diplomats in support of Britain. Russia has ordered an equal number of most of those countries’ diplomats to leave and for Britain to reduce the staff at its Moscow embassy to the same number that Russia maintains in London.
Russia consistently has complained that Britain has not provided evidence to back up its claim of Russian involvement or that the poison that afflicted the Skripals was a Russia-developed nerve agent.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also submitted questions to British and French authorities on Saturday. The ministry did not say what actions Russia might take if the parties do not answer the questions or provide partial responses.
Russia will undoubtedly conduct its own internal audit for the origin of the chemical weapon used in this attack. Here is how I think it will go:
Putin: (to manufacturer) “Did you make this poison?”
Manufacturer: “No.”
Putin: (to spy agency) “Did you order this poison to be used?”
Spy agency: “No.”
Putin: “See? Proof.”
The nerve gas attack was done because Putin wanted someone to know that he did it (Unless of course, he has less control than it’s believed). If it was just a matter of having the guy dead, they could have done it with rat poison from the hardware store.
I bet he wanted Manafort and Flynn to know what happens to guys that rat.
Your suggested investigation seems thorough enough:
Once the questions have been rephrased and repeated, it will rise to the level of Drumpf’s interrogation of Putin which was far more rigorous than W’s query of Vlad’s soul. After all, if it’s good enough for the US executive branch, it has to be sufficient for the international community.
Kinda like the evidence for WMD in Iraq, but without having Joe Wilson muddying the waters.
More like:
Putin: (to Spy Agency) “Did you make this poison?”
Spy Agency: “No.”
Putin: (to Manufacturer) “Did you order this poison to be used?”
Manufacturer: “No.”
Putin: “See? Proof.”