LONDON, December 14. /TASS/. London is hindering the process of the partial restoration of diplomatic staff at the Russian and British embassies despite ongoing negotiations on the issue, the Russian Embassy in London said on Friday.

"Negotiations between the parties on the partial restoration of diplomatic staff at the diplomatic missions in London and Moscow are in progress. However, London is hampering the restoration of full-fledged work of foreign missions to the detriment of its own interests," the embassy stressed.

Relations between Russia and the UK deteriorated after the incident in the British city of Salisbury. According to London, on March 4, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia for spying for the UK but later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, England on March 4. Police said they were exposed to a nerve agent.

Later on, London claimed that the Novichok-class toxin had been allegedly developed in Russia. The UK rushed to accuse Russia of being involved, failing to furnish any evidence. Moscow refuted the accusations stating that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had ever done research on that toxic chemical.

Britain also expelled 23 Russian diplomats without providing any evidence and said other measures against Moscow would be taken. Moscow took tit-for-tat steps expelling the same number of British diplomats from Russia and ordering to close the British Consulate-General in St. Petersburg and shut down the British Council’s offices in Russia.