Russia’s Ambassador Summoned by UK MFA to be Interrogated About the Salisbury Poisoning
Let's begin with news from the UK. A Russian ambassador has been summoned to the UK MFA. They're asking him questions about the Salisbury poisoning of the former RMI Colonel Sergey Skripal and his daughter. This was reported by the PM Theresa May, who's already found her scapegoat.
Theresa May, UK's PM: "It's highly possible that Moscow is responsible for the poisoning of the former spy, Sergey Skripal, and his daughter, regardless, whether they were directly involved, or Russia had allowed the nerve agent to get into hands of other concerned parties. On Wednesday, I'll revisit this issue and suggest specific measures against Russia".
There's no proof or hard evidence, but there's no doubt, either. It was the Kremlin, that's it. This is the reaction of Russia's MFA: "Tales, provocations, and a circus show," as said by their official rep, Maria Zakharova. She also suggested London would reveal the truth about what happened to Litvinenko, Berezovsky, Perepelichny, and others who mysteriously died on UK land, and whose deaths were never properly investigated.
Chances are, we won't receive an answer from Downing St., even to this: "You make a living in Russia with your quill, but you'll die in UK from a sword." This was an anonymous threat to Elizaveta Gerson, an NTV reporter.
Elizaveta Gerson: "I started receiving threats after an article with my name was aired on BBC. Then, it was reissued over and over by the local tabloids, The Sun and Daily Mail. The thing is that the Russian BBC monitoring services have added a negative review on my part about the MFA rep, Boris Johnson, although I quoted the British Telegraph in my article. So, in reality, this review was given to the Minister by the UK press, not me. However, in the midst of the anti-Russia hysteria, which takes place in the UK media, we should've provided the UK audience with the name of any Russian rep, who lives here, in the UK, and is available for threats, because they keep threatening the Russian Embassy in London. But, now they have someone new, especially since it's very easy to find my e-mail address online".
It's clear that our colleague doesn't support the conspiracy version of Skripal's attempted murder. Here's the result. Another alleged outcome could be UK delegation, or even England's team boycotting the FIFA World Cup. At least, that's what they actively report, also mentioning Poland, Australia, and Japan. Actually, FIFA regulations prohibit not going. But, this time it's not about the sport, but about politics.
Darya Kozlova is in our studio.
- So, they're prepared to be disqualified just to ruin their relationship with Moscow?
- Well, their relationship with Moscow isn't the best, but they're risking ruining their relationship with their fans.
So, what is it, if it's not politics or poison, which, according to the UK media, they can even add to coolers in Russia? There are many reasons to bail on the World Cup, and the entire UK has been looking for them since 2010, when Russia and UK competed for hosting the 2018 World Cup.
Nikolay Saprin, sportscaster: “Obviously, they still can't handle losing this pitch to Russia. What the politicians are saying now, is probably yet another attempt to get attention. I wouldn't take all these emotional outbursts seriously, because it's the politicians, who say it, not the soccer players.”
Other remember that this whole thing started back in 2007, when Russia beat England in UEFA Euro 2008. The journalists still remember how the team's coach had acted.
Ilya Kazakov, sportscaster: "As far as I remember, this was the first and last time, when McClaren refused to talk to the Russian press. He said he'd only answer the questions from British journalists, and the translator could give it to the Russians in a nutshell later. I remember that my colleagues were outraged by this, it seemed indescribable, unethical".
There's some curious logic in the words of Kevin Miles, the President of the UK Fan Federation. There might not be enough lodging for all the fans in Russia for the FIFA World Cup, so the fans would have to put up tents, surrounded by 70,000 bears. Political experts believe it's not about wildlife, or even soccer. The West is trying to boycott Russian sports in general. Now, after the end of the doping scandal, they needed someone new to blame.
Andrey Suzdaltsev, political expert: "Intensive attacks on our sports came from WADA recently. This organization did everything to ban our athletes from the Olympics in Rio and South Korea. Now, we see a different picture. Right now, the attacks come particularly from the UK".
Of course, they also talk about the informational campaign before the Olympics in Sochi.
Mikhail Degtyarev, Head of the State Duma Committee on culture, sports, tourism, and youth affairs: "They said Russians wouldn't build the objects in time, wouldn't host decent Olympics, that we wouldn't have snow. The result? The Sochi Olympics was one of the best in the world. Everyone had admitted this, including British fans and athletes".
The accusers are already having a hard time. The talks of boycotting the World Cup have already affected the popularity of the UK government and local soccer officials. The scandal was caused by the ticket distribution between fans for a match in Kaliningrad. The UK Football Association had only given 1,600 tickets for the fans, although FIFA had given them over 2,000 tickets.
"I'm disappointed. I've been to Portugal in 2004, Germany in 2006, South Africa, Brazil, and France. Now, I don't have a ticket for the match with Belgium in Kaliningrad".
As far as the sports boycott goes, not too many people believe in it now. FIFA was clear with their take on this. The rules that require all countries' teams to participate in the tournaments, are the same for everyone, disobeying may lead to disqualification.
Nikita Simonyan, first VP of the Russian Football Union: "This may result in sanctions, banning them from the FIFA World Cup of 2022. Along with others. The World Cup will do fine without them, forthcomings will take their place".
UK residents are waiting for this World Cup. For their national team, it's a chance to rehabilitate after a series of losses. During UEFA Euro 2016 playoffs, England had lost to Iceland. During the 2014 World Cup, they came in 4th in the group stage, without winning anything. Last time UK had made it to at least semi-finals was in 1996 during the UEFA EC. Right now, the team has new, young members. The fans have high hopes for them. But, will the team get their chance? It's up to the politicians to decide.
That was Darya Kozlova, reporting about sports and politics.