Britain’s accusations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in England “border on banditry”, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov , was quoted as saying by RIA news agency on Sunday.

“We are stating that this is quite unprecedented – international affairs bordering, maybe, on banditry. What stands behind this? Is it Britain’s internal problems or the problems of Britain’s cooperation with its allies, or something else? Looks like this is not our business,” RIA quoted Peskov as saying.

Moscow has denied responsibility for the 4 March attack on Skripal and his daughter, the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since the second world war. The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats as a result and Moscow retaliated by ordering out the same number of Britons.