Deadline passes without explanation from Russia on ex-spy’s poisoning

A deadline set by British Prime Minister Theresa May passed early Wednesday without comment from Russia after the British government demanded answers about an ex-Russian spy attacked on British soil with a nerve agent.

Reuters reports that British diplomats accused Russia of violating international law by attempting an assassination of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who defected to the U.K., on foreign soil on Wednesday after Moscow did not respond to the deadline.

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Skripal and his daughter were found in critical condition on a park bench last weekend, and remain hospitalized.

“The council and the United Nations General Assembly have decried Russia’s violations of international law with alarming regularity. Its reckless behavior is an affront to all this body stands for,” British Ambassador Julian Braithwaite told the United Nations Human Rights Council, according to the news service.

The top diplomat’s comments come after May told the U.K. House of Commons that it was “highly likely” Russia carried out the attack, which left more than 20 people in the hospital from possible exposure to the nerve agent.

“The government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Julia Skripal,” May said on Monday.

“Either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country,” she added. “Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

Russia, meanwhile, has maintained steady denials of involvement and dismissed May’s accusations as “nonsense.”

“Moscow had nothing to do with what happened in Britain. It will not accept any totally unfounded accusations directed against it and will also not accept the language of ultimatums,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.