Russia demands meeting with UK foreign secretary over ex-spy poisoning

Russia says that it wants to meet with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to discuss the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal last month, which spurred heightened diplomatic tensions between Moscow and the West.

The Russian Embassy in London said in a statement Saturday it was “high time” for a meeting between Johnson and Russia’s ambassador to the U.K., Alexander Yakovenko, saying its interactions with the Foreign Secretary Office have been “utterly unsatisfactory.”

The Foreign Secretary Office said it will provide a response “in due course,” The Associated Press reported.

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The demand for a meeting comes after weeks of rising tensions between Russia and the U.K. in which scores of diplomats have been expelled from both countries.

The United States and two dozen other nations have also joined in to expel Russian officials over the incident. Russia has retaliated by expelling foreign diplomats from those nations.

The U.K. has been joined by other Western nations in accusing the Russian government of orchestrating the March 4 poisoning of Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England. Both are now in stable condition.

Russia has denied involvement in the nerve-agent attack.