London’s claims that Russia was behind what the UK describes as an attempt to poison former GRU Colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are false and may stem from the ‘domestic political climate,’ Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the Euronews channel in an interview on the eve of his visit to Brussels, TASS reports.
"First, the assessments put forward by a number of countries do not reflect the actual situation, and second, they definitely are not leading us to a brighter tomorrow," Medvedev said. "In the majority of cases, similar assessments and similar sanctions are not meant to punish anyone, or do anyone harm, or demonstrate an international position. No! They have other reasons why they do it; so as to pander to the domestic political environment."
He expressed regret "any evaluation like this definitely does not promote international cooperation." He recalled that similar practices that existed "in the Soviet era, when the Soviet Union would use labels …, but this did not lead to anything good."
"That is why we believe that everyone has to be careful when furnishing assessments," Medvedev noted
