‘Follow the facts’: Russian ambassador Grigory Logvinov has message for Julie Bishop

AS the uproar over the expulsion of two diplomats from Canberra grows, Russia’s ambassador has a blunt message for Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

RUSSIA’s ambassador to Australia says the expulsion of two diplomats from Canberra over the nerve agent attack is unfair and does not comply with international law.

In an interview with the ABC 7.30’s, Grigory Logvinov urged Foreign Minister Julie Bishop — who was interviewed on the program separately — to “follow the facts”.

Mr Logvinov denied the two expelled diplomats were spies, describing it as “a very funny question”.

“Ask your authorities how they could judge who is a special agent or not,” he told interviewer Leigh Sales.

“Within my embassy, there are only career diplomats.”

Russian ambassador to Australia Grigory Logvinov says the expulsion of the diplomats is unfair.

The development comes after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull slammed the “aggressive”, “reckless” behaviour of Vladimir Putin’s government while declaring the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia as an “attack on all of us”.

The move to expel the diplomats is part of a mass international push by 23 countries to condemn Moscow for its involvement in the nerve agent attack on the father and daughter in the English city of Salisbury earlier this month.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with a military-grade nerve agent.

The pair — who were discovered lying on a park bench — may never recover from their injuries, British PM Teresa May has said.

When asked directly if a Russian agent had poisoned Sergei Skripal, Mr Logvinov said “of course not”.

“Actually, well, first of all, Scotland Yard said it would take weeks, if not months, to clear this case. That is why how can one say for sure it was kind of mysterious a Russian agent to poison Skripal. Actually, we still don’t know whether he was really poisoned, what is his condition? Where this stuff came from and so on.”

PM Malcolm Turnbull and Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop holding a Press Conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture Kym Smith

The Russian ambassador told Leigh Sales he hoped to meet Julie Bishop to discuss the expulsion.

Ms Bishop told 7.30 the decision to expel the diplomats was not taken lightly.

“We stand in solidarity with the UK and 23 other countries who have also expelled Russian diplomats for the deployment of a Russian military-grade nerve agent in the UK as part of an attempted assassination,” she said.

“We have to remember that this deemployment could have affected the lives of hundreds more people. It is a blatant breach of international law and Russia, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, should be upholding international peace and security, rather than deploying a nerve agent on European soil.

“In fact, it is the first time that a chemical agent of this nature has been deployed on European soil since the World War II.”

When asked if the Russian diplomats were spies, Ms Bishop said she had “great faith in the advice that we have received”.

The Foreign Minister reiterated that Australia was not considering a boycott of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, which kicks off in June.

Originally published as ‘Follow the facts’: Russian ambassador Grigory Logvinov has message for Julie Bishop