Skripal case has sparked new Cold War: Russian media

Russian media today shared the view that Western countries' coordinated expulsions of Russian diplomats following the poisoning in Britain of a former spy have plunged Moscow's relations with the West into a new "Cold War".

Twenty-four countries -- including 17 member-states of the European Union -- have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats over the attempted murder in England of Russian national Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Izvestia pro-Kremlin daily denounced what it called a "flash mob", while Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily stressed that "never before have there been such coordinated expulsions".

"Relationships between Russia and the West are entering a period of an all-out Cold War," political analyst Fedor Lukyanov wrote in Vedomosti business daily.

"The expulsions will be particularly destructive for Russian-American relations," he said, adding that he expects the West to issue "much more severe economic sanctions" against Russia in the future.

"This is not an end of escalation. It will most probably worsen."