MOSCOW: Russia's Foreign Ministry said on Monday it would respond to the decision by a large number of Western states to expel Russian diplomats and it accused their governments of blindly following their British allies into confrontation with Moscow. The ministry said in a statement that it viewed the expulsions, ordered in response to the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury, as an unfriendly act and a provocative gesture. Britain has blamed Russia for the poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia, a charge Moscow denies.

Source: New Strait Times March 26, 2018 16:52 UTC