"Almost one and a half year has passed since the Salisbury incident involving a former Russian military intelligence officer and his daughter, but Russia still hasn’t received any intelligible information from London on how the investigation is progressing, although we have sent more than 80 requests through diplomatic channels. Seeking to fill the void, the British continue to make up various stories, trying to disguise them as facts," the statement reads. "All arguments used to prove Russia’s alleged involvement in this mysterious incident, which is what former British Prime Minister Theresa May loudly spoke about, have miserably failed. Apparently, the reason for such behavior is that making the details of this shady story public is not in London’s interest," the press officer added.

LONDON, August 7. /TASS/. British authorities continue to spread misinformation about the Salisbury incident, seeking to hide the details of the case, a press officer at the Russian embassy in London said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, The Guardian wrote that "Scotland Yard has examined the role of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in the novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury." "We’re police officers, so we have to go for evidence. There has been a huge amount of speculation about who is responsible, who gave the orders, all based on people’s expert knowledge of Russia. I have to go with evidence," Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Neil Basu said, as cited by the newspaper.

"Unfortunately, we are once again witnessing how British authorities are manipulating national and global public opinion by way of ridiculous bogus stories. In order to keep the Salisbury incident afloat, the British are using media tools to spread blatant misinformation and fake news," the statement said. "Meanwhile, the fact that the United States has recently imposed a second round of sanctions on Russia over the Salisbury events makes it perfectly clear who pays the piper in this large-scale anti-Russian campaign," the Russian embassy’s press officer noted.

Skripal saga

According to London, former Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance.

Chief Executive of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down Gary Aitkenhead said later that British experts had been unable to identify the origin of the nerve agent used in the attack on the Skripals.

On August 1, the US administration earlier imposed a second round of sanctions on Russia over the Skripal incident.