adminBEIJING/MOSCOW. — A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called on countries concerned to avoid taking actions that could escalate tensions, after the United States joined Britain in expelling Russian diplomats.
“Relevant countries should abide by the international laws as well as norms of international relations, and avoid taking actions that could escalate tensions,” foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said yesterday at a daily press briefing.
Over 135 Russian diplomats have been expelled by at least 22 countries in the wake of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer, and his daughter in London earlier in March.
“China is opposed to the use of chemical weapons. Meanwhile, we also believe that the poisoning incident should be addressed properly through dialogue between Britain and Russia based on finding out the truth,” Hua said.
She called on all countries to abandon the cold-war mentality, stop the policies of confrontation, and work jointly to safeguard peace and stability of the world.Lavrov: ‘Rest assured, Russia won’t tolerate’ West’s obnoxious conduct
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday, Moscow won’t tolerate Western countries’ crassness and will definitely respond to the expulsion of diplomats.
“Rest assured, we will respond,” Lavrov said in reply to a TASS question. “The reason is that no one would like to tolerate such obnoxiousness and we won’t either,” he added.
The decision by some Western countries to expel Russian diplomats comes as the result of a colossal blackmail campaign and pressure from the United States, he went on.
“The conclusion that readily offers itself is that, we were quite right when (we) said more than once that truly independent countries in the modern world and in modern Europe are very few. When one or two diplomats are asked to leave this or that country, with apologies being whispered into our ears, we know for certain that this is a result of colossal pressure and colossal blackmail, which is Washington’s chief instrument in the international scene,” Lavrov said.
“This is what we hear in this situation and in relation to the Palestinian problem. ‘We will not be giving any money to the Palestinians until you say you will agree to the idea we have not formulated yet.’ In other words, ‘take it for granted.’ These ‘take-it-for-granted’ statements (charges against Russia in connection with the reported poisoning of former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia – TASS) are an insult to the system of Anglo-Saxon, British justice,” Lavrov said.
In his opinion, this decision by Western countries “reflects the determination of the ruling elites to ignore the voice of the people.”
“I’ve been shown some related publications. Germany’s daily Die Welt has conducted a poll to ask the respondents if more sanctions should be taken against Russia. More than 80 percent said NO. Such mechanisms of direct democracy should be used more often,” Lavrov said.
A number of EU member countries, the United States, Canada and Australia earlier announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence (GRU) officer Sergei Skripal, which the UK blames on Moscow without providing any evidence.
In particular, Washington expelled 60 Russian diplomats, including 48 embassy staff and 12 members of Russia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. In addition, the US authorities decided to close Russia’s consulate in Seattle.
Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a programme aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia. – Xinhua/Tass News Agency
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