Russia urges UK to present Skripal instead of publishing "fake news" about suspects

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova advises her British colleagues to produce Sergei Skripal instead of pushing ‘fake news’ reports about Colonel Anatoly Chepiga, allegedly, the real name of Ruslan Boshirov, one of the suspects in the Skripal poisoning case.

"The British media has come to another "correct" conclusion in the Salisbury story: seeing that no one Moscow has brought forward Chepiga over the past few days, then Boshirov is Chepiga, or Chepiga is Boshirov," the diplomat wrote on Monday on her Facebook page, commenting on the UK media reports concerning the Skripal case.

"Our British colleagues behave in a simplistic way without much ado. They ask Moscow to trot out "GRU officers," "heroes of Russia" and other virtual so-called participants of the drama, and for their part, they refuse to share anything about the investigation, besides political statements and leaks to the fake news media created especially for this purpose," she noted.

Zakharova added that London acts according to the principle "we accuse you, you defend yourself." "I will repeat myself: before Chepiga, we would like to see Skripal," the diplomat emphasized.