Warsaw is considering “steps at the national level and in coalitions of countries” against Moscow over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in Britain, a Polish deputy foreign minister has said.

Russian diplomats and family members leave the Russian embassy in central London on March 20. British PM Theresa May ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal. Photo: EPA/ANDY RAIN

Asked what steps Warsaw could take over a suspected nerve agent attack on former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southern England, on March 4, Polish deputy foreign minister Bartosz Cichocki said: "This is a range of various actions; we will implement them first, and talk about them afterwards."

Russia has ‘duty’ to respond

Cichocki, who is responsible for Eastern affairs and security policy, added that Poland wants a "clear position" in the EU and NATO which would express solidarity with Britain while pointing to "Russia's responsibility and duty" to respond to British allegations "instead of arrogantly and cynically repudiating them."

"We are working towards the Salisbury incident being treated as an event in Russia's relations with Europe, and not in bilateral relations between Moscow and London," Cichocki said.

'Security of EU citizens' was at risk

“We believe that the lives and security of EU citizens have been exposed” to danger, he added. He said that "many people of different nationalities" could have been exposed in the attack on Skripal.

On Friday, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said Warsaw was “certain” that Moscow was involved in the suspected nerve agent attack on the former Russian agent.

On Wednesday, Czaputowicz said in a major speech setting out his country’s foreign policy priorities that Russia’s aggressive policy towards the West could not be ignored.

Amid an international outcry over the poisoning of Skripal, Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has agreed with a remark that the upcoming football World Cup in Russia could be used by Vladimir Putin for propaganda purposes in the same way as the 1936 Olympic Games in Nazi Germany were used by Hitler, according to reports.

British Prime Minister Theresa May ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats in response to the poisoning.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP