British show double standards over Khashoggi's case

Former UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson demonstrates London's double standards with his approach to the situation with the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Lodon said on Monday.

Commenting on Johnson's article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the press secretary said: "In the article, he insists on one idea in particular - which is fair in and of itself - that it is necessary for Saudi Arabia and Turkey to provide as much concrete facts as possible about what led to the journalist's death. It is curious to hear calls for dialogue and for providing evidence from Johnson. It was precisely him, while still in the capacity of a foreign secretary, who was among the initiators of UK's hard anti-Russian course after the events in Salisbury which envisaged refusal to provide any evidence, rejection of any official cooperation and further ungrounded buildup of the sanctions pressure on the basis of mere political statements. The statements of the former Foreign Secretary serve as a perfect illustration of double standards in London's foreign policy."

In his article of the Daily Telegraph, Boris Johson wrote that the death of Khashoggi and poisoning of former Russian military intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergey Skripal in Salisbury represent events of the same type: "state-sponsored plots to execute opponents on foreign soil, where the very outlandishness of the modus operandi is intended to send a terrifying public warning to every expatriate journalist or dissident who dares to oppose the regime."

Khashoggi case

On Saturday, Saudi officials said the fight at the consulate resulted in journalist Jamal Khashoggi's death. Saudi law enforcement agencies arrested 18 people they believe are connected to the case. The Saudi public prosecutor also said that Royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani and deputy intelligence chief Ahmed Asiri have been sacked from their position over the incident.

Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, known for his criticis of Saudi Arabia's current policy, left his home country and moved to the United States in 2017. The journalist wrote articles for The Washington Post, analyzing the situation in Saudi Arabia and the country's foreign policy, and criticizing Riyadh.

The journalist arrived to the consulate general of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul on October 2 to complete routine paperwork and has not been in contact since then.

Salisbury incident

According to London, former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal, 66, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia, 33, suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Claiming the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London accused Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdon's accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance. The chief executive of the UK government's Defense Science and Technology Laboratory in Port Down Gary Aitkenhead said that the laboratory has not been able to establish where the substance used to poison Sergey and Yulia Skripal was made.