Skripal row: Russia says spy's poisoning in Britain's interests

Russia on Monday said that the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal could have been in Britain's interests.

In a news conference, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed the western countries for "playing children's games" and pointed out UK's hand for the poisoning incident.

"There are other explanations besides those put forward by our Western colleagues who declare that it can only be the Russians who are responsible," he said.

Lavrov asserted that the UK was blaming Russia for the poisoning case as the former failed to fulfill the promises to the voters over Brexit, Sky News reported.

Accusing London and Washington D.C. of orchestrating the "drama", Lavrov added, "In times of Cold War there were some rules, but now Britain and the United States had dropped all propriety."

According to the British government, Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were on March 4 exposed to a military-grade nerve agent at their home the British city of Salisbury.

Moscow has requested London that it "insists" on seeing Yulia after her condition dramatically improved last week. She is now said to be conscious and talking. Her father still remains in a critical condition.

Meanwhile, the UK said that it is looking into the "legality" of the request and is considering the "rights and wishes" of Yulia.

Last month, the UK suspended 23 Russian diplomats back to Moscow claiming that Russia was "highly responsible" for the poisoning attack. In a tit-for-tat move, Russia also expelled the same number of British diplomats.

However, Moscow denied any wrongdoing, while Russian President Vladimir Putin described the accusations as "delirium".

On Saturday, Russia ordered 50 more British diplomats to leave the country, further escalating a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also called the incident "a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil" and accused Russia of carrying out the attack.

UK ambassador Laurie Bristow was summoned by the Russian Foreign Ministry for the second time over the poisoning attack on Skripal.