Kremlin halts British council activities in Russia

macfranc007 March 18, 2018 Nigeria News today & Breaking news ▷ Read Nigerian newspapers 24/7 Kess Ewubare

- Russia accuses Britain of provocative actions and baseless accusations over the poisoning of a double agent

- North Korea offers to assist Nigeria in fight against Boko Haram

Russia said Saturday, March 17 that it would expel 23 British diplomats and close a British consulate following London’s “provocative” measures over the poisoning of a double agent that has triggered an escalating war of words.

And it also said it would halt the activities of the British Council in Russia in a tough series of retaliatory measures announced after summoning British ambassador Laurie Bristow.

The Russian response was announced on the eve of a presidential election which is expected to hand Vladimir Putin a fourth term in the Kremlin, but which comes as the country appears increasingly isolated, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The crisis erupted after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were exposed to a Soviet-designed nerve agent on March 4 in the English city of Salisbury, leaving them in critical condition.

London has blamed Moscow and on Friday, even directly implicated Putin in the attack, prompting the Kremlin’s fury.

“Twenty three diplomatic staff at the British embassy in Moscow are declared persona non grata and to be expelled within a week,” a foreign ministry statement said.

It said this was a response to Britain’s “provocative actions” and “baseless accusations over the incident in Salisbury on March 4”.

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Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov was found dead in London on March 12, with police opening a murder inquiry after a post mortem found he died from “compression to the neck”

Russia also said that it was withdrawing permission for Britain to operate its consulate in the northwestern city of Saint Petersburg, citing a “disparity” in the number of diplomatic missions held by the two countries.

And it said it had halted the activities of the British Council, Britain’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities, across the country.

“Due to the unregulated status of the British Council in Russia, its activity is halted,” the foreign ministry said.

“The measures are more harsh, but the British deserved them. And I don’t rule out that something else could follow,” first deputy head of the Russian Senate’s foreign affairs committee Vladimir Dzhabarov told Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday, March 15, expressed willingness to assist the armed forces of Nigeria in tackling the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast.

The Independent reports that the outgoing ambassador of the DPRK, Jong Yong Chol, commended the federal government’s efforts at decimating the power of the Boko Haram, in Abuja during a farewell visit to the foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama.

NAIJ.com gathered that the envoy thanked the federal government for consolidating and developing friendly and cooperative relations especially in politics, economic and culture between North Korea and Nigeria.

He said the DPRK-Nigeria relations began in 1976 and pledged to continue to do everything possible to ensure that the relations between the two countries was further strengthened as he is leaving Nigeria.

Chol said both Nigeria and North Korea had special relations because the two countries had good cooperation in the international arena, most importantly, in the UN.

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