On the anniversary of the mysterious poisoning of Skripale, the British media presented an “investigation” about Russian diplomat Alexander Yakovenko. The representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, considers the new provocation of the British in revenge against the background of the lack of progress in the “poisoning” case. Yakovenko himself demanded an apology for defamation from the editor-in-chief of Mail on Sunday. It seems that London is again trying to expose itself to the injured party and appoints Moscow guilty for all the mistakes of the authorities.

The new British "investigation" claims that diplomat Alexander Yakovenko allegedly was an agent of Soviet intelligence in the 1980s. Zakharova also spoke about awarding Yakovenko with the Alexander Nevsky Order, which British journalists called “military.”

“The order of Alexander Nevsky on the same day was awarded to him by the Permanent Representative to the EU Chizhov, and recently the Ambassador to Italy Razov, the Deputy Foreign Minister Meshkov and Grushko and so on were awarded to him ... And why? Because historically, Alexander Nevsky was considered the patron saint of national diplomacy. If British journalists really believe the medal of the Order for Services to the Fatherland is a military award, I have no words at all, ”said Zakharova.

New spy scandals and Russophobic fairy tales are designed to divert our attention from the main question: what really happened in Salisbury on March 4, 2018? The data of the official investigation were never published, access to the Violinists is closed, they are still in an unknown place. British Ambassador to Russia Laurie Bristow said that Skripali was alive and allegedly did not want to communicate with representatives of Moscow. Let me remind you that a year ago, on far-fetched charges, the West took an unprecedented step: an international anti-Russian campaign was launched under the leadership of London, Russian diplomats were expelled from Great Britain, the United States and a number of EU countries.

There are many oddities in the history of Skripale. A loud incident with the alleged use of nerve gas was only 11 kilometers from the Porton Down laboratory, one of the UK’s main chemical research facilities. The laboratory itself participated in the investigation of both the Salisbury incident and a similar situation in neighboring Amesbury in July of the same year. Later, the lab itself stated that it could not prove that the nerve agent used in Salisbury was produced in Russia, or determine its country of origin. Our gas itself has not been produced for a long time, but work on such chemical compounds has been carried out in a number of other states — the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden, and in the United Kingdom itself.

It still remains unknown where Scripals are now. Earlier, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported, citing a source in the British special services, that the Ministry of Defense employee laid flowers on the grave of Lyudmila, the wife of Sergey Skripal. This may indicate that Skripali are not in the UK and are limited in their movement.

The note was illustrated with a photograph from March 1, in which from the back is a woman in a dark coat with blond hair of indefinite length; next to her on the ground is a black leather bag and a yellow bag from a supermarket with a bouquet of peonies. Her face is not visible.

A year ago, on March 1, this grave was visited by Sergey Skripal and his daughter Julia, who came to the UK to see her father and visit the graves of his mother and brother on his birthday. The wife of Sergey Skrypal Lyudmila died in the UK from cancer in October 2012. Their son Alexander died in St. Petersburg at the age of 43 from acute hepatic failure in July 2017. His ashes were buried separately at the same cemetery in Salisbury.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.