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MOSCOW, March 24 (Itar-Tass) - RIA Novosti. The leaders of the EU countries decided to withdraw the EU ambassador to Russia Marcus Ederer, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Leven said.

Also, a source from RIA Novosti warned that some European countries may expel Russian diplomats because of the "case of Skripal". The interlocutor of the agency said that Ambassador Ederer can be recalled for consultations in Brussels for about a month.

"The decision is for the EU foreign policy service, I do not think that there is a date, but I think that we are talking about about a month," he answered the question of how long the ambassador was recalled for consultations and whether there is a date for his return to Moscow.

"The Case of Skripal"

On March 4, former Colonel GRU Sergei Skripal, recruited by London, and his daughter Julia unconsciously found in the center of Salisbury. Both victims were hospitalized.

The UK claims that they were poisoned with a substance developed within the framework of the Soviet program "Novice". However, there was no project with a similar name in the Soviet Union, and figures used in the designation of the system. The name "Novice" was replicated by foreign media from the filing of Vila Mirzayanov, who had nothing to do with the creation of chemical weapons.

Official London soon accused Moscow of being involved in the poisoning of Skripal and announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and the freezing of bilateral contacts with Russia at the highest level. Moscow denies any relation to the incident and calls the charges unsubstantiated, in connection with which, mirror measures were introduced. Russia expelled 23 British diplomats and withdrew permission to open a consulate.

The answer of the European Union

The EU prepared Russia's response to the "Skripal case". This was told by French President Emmanuel Macron.
The head of the French Republic said that the European Union had come to the same conclusions on the poisoning of ex-colonel GRU Sergey Skripal and him, as the United Kingdom.

"This conclusion makes it perfectly clear that the origin of the substance that was used <...> comes from Russia," the French president said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels following the results of the European Council, referring to the EU's response to the alleged Russia's involvement in the incident with the Violin.

The French leader also said that Berlin and Paris in the near future will take coordinated decisions on the incident in Salisbury.
"This requires a coordinated and resolute response from the EU and its members, several countries, including Germany and France, will soon make coordinated decisions," said Macron.

In turn, Merkel announced the presence of "Certain Evidence" by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Theresa May, that point to the "Russian track".

The heads of state and government of 28 EU member states took more than three hours of debate on the first day of the summit in Brussels to work out a common response to the incident with Skripal. Thus, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Italy initially took a low-key position with regard to unproven allegations against Russia. However, among the EU countries there were also calls for new sanctions, which were ultimately not supported.

The reaction of the Kremlin

The Russian authorities expressed regret in connection with the decision of the European Union to recall the ambassador for consultations.

"Of course, we regret in this regard that again, using the wording" with a high degree of probability, "such decisions are made and judgments of this kind are drawn up. We do not agree with this, and we repeat once again that Russia absolutely unequivocally has nothing to do with the case of the Violins, "- said the spokesman of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov.

He also commented on the possibility of introducing a response in case of expulsion of Russian diplomats from some EU countries.

"We first need to wait for some decisions, understand, on the basis of what they were adopted and with what formulations, then one can already talk about something," Peskov said.

The presidential press secretary also noted that the Russian side is not provided with information on the "Skripal case".

"We do not know what kind of data the British side operated on when she discussed the topic of the Violins with her EU counterparts, and we also do not know what exactly the heads of state of the European Union agreed with when they talked about their support for the UK because the Russian side, unfortunately, has no opportunity to get at least some information from the source on the so-called business of Skripal, "added Peskov.

They supported the anti-Russian policy

The Foreign Ministry, in turn, stressed that Russia has still not received any arguments from the British side so that answers could be given to the Salisbury incident. At the same time, Russian diplomats reaffirmed Moscow's readiness for cooperation in the "Skripal case".

The diplomatic department also expressed regret that the European Union supported the position of Britain on the incident in Salisbury. As Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Artem Kozhin noted, the EU chose to go in the wake of another anti-Russian campaign launched by London and its overseas allies with an obvious goal - to put one more obstacle in the way of normalizing the situation on the European continent. "

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko, in turn, told the Austrian Ambassador to Russia Johannes Aygner about the groundlessness and unacceptability of the conclusions of the European Council on the incident in Salisbury.

Link: https://ria.ru/world/20180324/1517172405.html