British PM points finger at Russia over spy poisoning

COPENHAGEN: British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday reiterated her accusation that Moscow poisoned former spy Sergei Skripal, saying Russia alone had the "capability, the intent and the motive."

"There's no plausible explanation other than Russia was responsible," May said in Copenhagen after talks with Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen.

"No other country has a combination of the capability, the intent and the motive to carry out such an act," she said.

Britain and its Western allies have accused Moscow of poisoning ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4 in Salisbury, southwestern England, with a Soviet-made military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok.

May said Russia had a "record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations" and notably targeted defectors.

She said Russia posed a "shared threat" to Europe's security "on a range of fronts".

She alleged a "sustained campaign of cyberespionage and disruption (election meddling), including against Denmark."

Russia has vehemently denied any involvement in the Skripal poisoning, instead pointing the finger at British and US intelligence agencies.

The crisis between the West and Russia has led to the biggest wave of tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats in recent memory.

Skripal, 66, and Yulia, 33, remain in hospital but their health has improved and they are no longer in critical condition.