UK Blocks Renewal of Visas for Russian Diplomatic Mission in London

TEHRAN (Defapress)- "Diplomats cannot obtain British visas as an average waiting period is from one year to a year and a half. It is utterly abnormal since no other country does so. The British government merely blocks the renewal of staff at the diplomatic mission," he said in a televised interview with the Rossiya-24 channel on Saturday.

Yakovenko pointed out that "the point is that actually the mission is being suffocated because people are being expelled while some just end their tenure in a natural way".

"They cannot work here [in the UK] forever, but those people cannot be replaced. For example, an employee, who was heading the press office, has left without any replacement," the Russian ambassador stressed, adding that "it is an intentional policy carried out by the current British government".

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia for spying for the UK but later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, England. Police said they suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent.

Later on, London claimed that the Novichok-class toxin had been allegedly developed in Russia. The UK rushed to accuse Moscow of being involved, while failing to furnish any evidence. Moscow refuted the accusations stating that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had ever done research on that toxic chemical. In April, Chief Executive of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down Gary Aitkenhead said that British experts had been unable to identify the origin of the nerve agent used to attack Skripal and his daughter.

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