Russia ridicules EU Council statement on Skripal case; calls it absurd

In a recent article for The Duran I said that the EU Council on Thursday would issue a statement which appeared to give full-throated support to Britain’s position in the Skripal case, but which on close study would not do so.

Subsequently, in a follow up article for The Duran I pointed out how the statement the EU Council actually did issue was exactly of that sort: appearing to give full-throated support to Britain’s position in the Skripal case, but on close study failing to do so.

Now Dmitry Peskov, President Putin’s spokesman, discussing the same EU Council statement, has made exactly the same point

We understand that there are, let’s say, parameters of solidarity inside the EU, inside NATO. That is why countries manifest solidarity in this manner. However, we give attention to the wording, which is skilfully used. No one, the UK or the UK’s allies, is using any specific wording to make any accusations against Russia. We believe that makes the situation absurd.

Of course, it’s highly uncomfortable to us to have such unpredictable and aggressive partners as counterparts. But nevertheless, it’s a reality and we need to live with it.

(bold italics added)

Peskov is of course right.

In truth what is now underway in Britain and elsewhere with these statements is more a propaganda exercise than anything else, with Britain and the EU issuing statements, and expelling Russian diplomats, in an effort to make it appear that the case against Russia has been ‘proved’, when of course at this early stage of the inquiry, without a suspect being named and with the investigators apparently still unsure how exactly Sergey and Yulia Skripal were poisoned, it both has not been and cannot be.

Unfortunately there is a very ugly side to all of this, which goes beyond stirring up an anti-Russian atmosphere in Britain and the West.

The British and EU statements and the expulsion of Russian diplomats are not intended for Russia where Peskov’s comment show they are being received with a shrug.

Peskov illustrated this further when he discussed President Putin’s personal reaction to the current anti-Russian campaign stemming from the Skripal case

You see that President Putin remains absolutely calm, restrained, and, unlike his vis-a-vis on the island [ie. Theresa May – AM], he behaves correctly.  For him [the situation on the international arena] is not a priority, the priority is the domestic problems that we have, and he deals with them in a daily, round-the-clock format…..

 What is important here is that no one has ever dealt with the situation when they accuse a country of something they cannot even formulate, and they do not try to formulate it

What in effect they are saying is that the British and European authorities have already decided who is guilty, and any dissent from that finding will not be tolerated.

Any British police investigator, or any Porton Down or OPCW scientist or official, who is involved in the Skripal investigation, and who is concerned about the future of their career, is now under notice.

As I have said previously, the investigation of the Skripal case – which appears to be going nowhere – has now been irredeemably prejudiced, and I no longer expect to learn the truth about this affair.