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Russia's Ambassador to the UK has given an extraordinary 90-minute press conference denying his country was behind the Salisbury attack.

Alexander Yakovenko blasted Britain's claims that Moscow had stockpiled Novichok, the deadly nerve agent used on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Instead he said Russia had never made Novichok and it was a US-created fiction as he demanded "transparency" from Britain.

"We hear all the stories and the theories about our motivations," he declared. "We don't buy it. For us, these kinds of statements are unacceptable."

In a marathon session with journalists at his London residence, Yakovenko boasted about his sarcastic tweets, only to insist he was "not trolling" Britain.

He held aloft a note sent to the Foreign Office showing Russia had denied involvement in the attack 12 hours after an official request from Britain.

(Image: PA)

He lavished praise on defector spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, claiming they were "our people", despite Vladimir Putin saying "traitors will kick the bucket" in 2010.

As questions the UK government must answer rolled by on a screen, he even suggested the UK could be behind other Russian deaths on its soil - saying: "We have a lot of suspicions."

The press conference came ahead of a UN Security Council meeting tonight, where Russia will raise questions over the world chemical weapons watchdog examining the nerve agent.

Moscow has seized on Britain deleting a tweet that wrongly claimedPorton Down had traced the nerve agent used in the attack to Russia.

In fact the assessment came from multiple sources. Foreign Office officials blamed human error for the tweet - but Russia claimed it was evidence of a stitch-up.

(Image: PA)

Yakovenko said of the world watchdog probe: "Of course we will accept the results but these results should be confirmed by the international community. So, we want to see who were the experts.

"Last time the team was headed by the British in Syria... and that was a real problem for us."

It also came as Yulia Skripal, 33, issued her first public statement amid reports a relative wants to visit her in hospital.+

You couldn't possibly watch all 90 minutes, so: here are the 7 most WTF moments from today's press conference.

1. When suggested BRITAIN is behind all those 'strange' Russian deaths on UK soil

(Image: REUTERS)

Mr Yakovenko appeared to suggest BRITAIN could be behind a string of "very strange" deaths of Russian nationals in the UK.

BuzzFeed has identified at least 14 'Russian-linked' deaths and businessman Nikolai Glushkov's body was discovered in his south London home last month.

Yet the Ambassador said: "We have a lot of suspicions about Britain."

He added "If we take the last 10 years, so many Russian citizens died here in the UK under very strange circumstances.

"The last one was Glushkov. He was strangled - as it was said officially - on March 12.

"He was a Russian businessman - a Russian citizen, not a British citizen - and his case is also classified.

(Image: AFP)

"We don't have any access to the investigation, we don't know anything. We want to know the truth.

"My question is 'Why is it happening here?'."

At one point the Ambassador even called the poisoning of Sergei Skripal a "tragic accident".

And he demanded access to classified British files.

"Speaking frankly, it reminds me of the Litvinenko case," he said.

(A UK government inquiry declared Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by the Russian state.)

"More than 10 years and all the papers are classified."

He added: "We're not blaming anybody, but having all this things in hand, what to think?"

2. When he boasted a Twitter poll shows "the British public" are on his side

(Image: REUTERS)

In one bizarre moment the Ambassador highlighted how the British public agree with him - through a Twitter poll.

The Russian Embassy Twitter account is known for its provocative posts, including one claiming Poirot was needed to investigate in Salisbury.

"What is interesting is we put the quiz," he said.

"And 68% out of the 1,400 replied that the outcomes of Skripal and Glushkov case investigations will be classified by the UK government.

"So the British do not believe that this investigation will be opened.

"This is not us, this is the British public!"

3. When he said Russian Novichok was all made up by America

(Image: REUTERS)

Mr Yakovenko denied that Russia had ever produced Novichok.

He told the press conference: "The whole story about Novichok started in the United States in the '90s.

"It is nothing to do with Russia. We never produced it, we never had Novichok.

"This is a creation of some other countries and some scientists."

4. When he lavished praise on the Skripals - even though Sergei was a defector spy

(Image: PA)

Mr Yakovenko heaped praise on the Skripals, calling them "our people" and saying Russia wanted answers for them.

That's, er, despite Sergei Skripal being a defector and Vladimir Putin saying "traitors will kick the bucket" around the time he left Russia in a spy swap.

"We're really sorry for them," he said. "This is our people, and I'm going to meet [Yulia's cousin] Viktoria Skripal when she's going to come to London... to offer everything."

He told reporters he was "really happy" after Yulia Skripal issued a statement stating that she was "getting stronger daily".

"I'm really happy and I hope Sergei Skripal will also recover and I'm quite sure that one day Yulia will come back to Moscow where she has job, apartments, she is a wealthy person and she is doing well.

"As far as the father, that is his choice, he decided to live here in the UK, no problem."

On Viktoria's possible visit to London he said: "We believe this is a humanitarian case.

"And we could expect that the visa would be issued as fast as possible."

5. When he started randomly extolling the joys of Russia's new 5G network

(Image: REUTERS)

Mr Yakovenko was asked if he expected nations to pull their teams out of the World Cup this summer. His answer was interesting.

"If somebody isn't going to come, this is their personal decision, but this is a celebration of sport and I'm quite sure there will be a good result for all of us," he said.

"For us, it's a great opportunity to show our country."

In an aside, he then added: "Not so many people know but last month we launched in Russia 5G.

"You know what is 5G? Mobile phones? It's 10 times faster than 4G!

"And I think the people when they come to Russia will see the technology is not bad at all, and the food is great, and the hospitality is outstanding.

"So welcome to Russia"

6. When he suggested it was all to distract from Brexit

(Image: PA)

Mr Yakovenko repeated the claims of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the poisoning may have been carried out to "divert attention from Brexit".

He said: "I comment on the British foreign policy and from my point of view there are two reasons and that's exactly what my minister said.

"Divert attention from the Brexit, this is what Lavrov said. The second is to take the lead in the Western world for deterrence of Russia.

"So these two roles, as my minister said, were behind everything what happened."

(Image: TASS)

7. When he insisted he's 'not trolling' Britain - despite boasting about his tweets

(Image: REUTERS)

Early on in the press conference the Ambassador boasted: "Who is reading our tweets - raise your hands!"

Yet he insisted he wasn't trolling Britain at all with the often-sarcastic Russian Embassy account.

"We’re not trolling, we’re puzzled because we need an investigation and we cannot get co-operation," he said.

He added: "We are taking this seriously.

"We are using in this situation a sense of human humour because some statements are really not friendly with the common sense," he added.

"We take everything very seriously. For us, it is not a joke."