UK ambassador to Russia summoned over poisoning of ex-Russian spy

The United Kingdom Ambassador to Russia, Laurie Bristow, has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, over the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in the UK last week, the ministry told TASS.

Earlier on Monday, Russian ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko was summoned to the UK Foreign Office in London in the wake of the investigation into the possible poisoning of Skripal.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, "Moscow has not received any inquiry over the agent from Skripal's case from London. Russia will respond to the UK's inquiry if it is directed pursuant to the norms of the Chemical Weapons Convention."

British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday that Russia was "highly likely" responsible for the attack.

Retired military intelligence officer Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, were found slumped on a bench in Salisbury city centre on March 4. However, they remain in a critical but stable condition in hospital.

The White House noted that the use of a highly lethal nerve agent against Skripal and his daughter "was an outrage."

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Monday underscored that Washington D.C. had been keeping a tab on the incident in the UK very closely, adding that the attack was "reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible."

According to the reports, Skripal was convicted by the Russian government of passing secrets to UK's Secret Intelligence Service MI6 in 2004, but was given refuge in the UK in 2010 as part of a "spy swap.