Russia accuses Britain and US over 'grotesque' spy poisoning

Russia today accused British and US secret services of being behind the poisoning of a Russian former double agent as the world's chemical weapons watchdog held a closed-door meeting on the incident at Moscow's request.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin in a speech in Moscow said the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent was a "grotesque provocation... that was crudely concocted by the British and American security services" with the intention of implicating Russia.

He also warned that Moscow and the West must avoid escalating their current standoff to the dangerous levels reached at the height of the Cold War.

British and Russian officials meanwhile faced off at a closed-door meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for the first time since the poisoning of the Skripals on March 4.

The meeting in The Hague was held on Moscow's request to discuss the Skripal poisoning while an inquiry is still ongoing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he hoped the meeting would draw a line under the incident but Britain's foreign ministry called it a "diversionary tactic intended to undermine the work of the OPCW."
A diplomatic source who asked not to be named told AFP that Russia had tabled a motion asking the OPCW to "involve Russia in some way or another in the investigation."
"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War."