Sergei Skripal

Britain's top diplomat, Boris Johnson, told Parliament on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use the World Cup this summer as a propaganda tool much as Hitler used the 1936 Olympic Games to glorify Nazi Germany.

The European Union strongly condemns the attack that took place against Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, UK on 4 March 2018, that also left a police officer seriously ill. The lives of many citizens were threatened by this reckless and illegal act.

Montenegro on Wednesday offered support for the UK's diplomatic and economic measures against Russia, over claims that the Kremlin authorised use of deadly nerve gas on a Russian living in the city of Salisbury.

Theresa May is preparing to chair a meeting of the national security council after the midnight deadline she set Moscow over the spy poisoning case passed, The Guardian writes. 

RUSSIA has refused to respond to Theresa May's ultimatum regarding the nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy the country's London embassy has confirmed, lurching the UK into a diplomatic crisis with Moscow.

Russia will only respond to a British demand it provide answers about the nerve agent that poisoned former double agent Sergei Skripal if London lets Moscow analyze the substance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday.

Former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia, Theresa May has told MPs, according to BBC. 

The PM said it was "highly likely" Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack.

The Foreign Office summoned Russia's ambassador to provide an explanation.

Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition in intensive care in hospital, British police said on Wednesday as they appealed for witnesses to come forward with any information about the case, Reuters reported.

Former Russian intelligence colonel Sergei Skripal has suffered severely after contact with an unknown substance at a shopping center in the English town of Salisbury, the BBC reported.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was convicted by Russia of betraying agents to British intelligence, was critically ill on March 5 after exposure to an unidentified substance in Britain, two sources close to the investigation told Reuters.