Netherlands hosts Russia-England poison gas attack talks
On Wednesday the Hague is the scene of diplomatic talks about a poison gas attack on Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in England last month. Russia requested the talks after the country proposed a joint investigation into the attack and Great Britain called it "perverse", RTL Nieuws reports.
Russia submitted a questionnaire to the OPWC - the organization against chemical weapons - and asked for a special meeting in The Hague, where the organization's headquarters are. Diplomats from 41 countries, including the United States, Russia, Great Britain, and Germany, are at the meeting.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a bench in the English town of Salisbury on March 4th. Investigation quickly revealed that they were attacked with nerve gas novichok. Experts from the British army were unable to trace the origin of the gas, but believe that Moscow is behind the attack. Researchers of the OPWC also investigated the gas, but the results of that investigation is not yet known.
The poison gas attack resulted in a number of western countries, including the Netherlands, expelling Russian diplomats. Russia in turn deported the same number of diplomats.
On Tuesday Aleksandr Jakovenko, the Russian ambassador in London, said that the poison gas attack, which he called 'this provocation', was carried out by the British secret service. According to him, this is shown by the fact that the United Kingdom doesn't present any facts and refuses to cooperate with the Russians. "Such a course of events leads us to the conclusion that it is a provocation organized by secret services", he said according to RTL.
