Första planet med utvisade ryska diplomater har landat

On 4 March 2018, former Russian military intelligence officer and British spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned in Salisbury, England, with a Novichok nerve agent, according to the UK. As of 26 March 2018, Sergei remained critically ill in hospital and doctors have indicated that he may never fully recover; Yulia, shortly afterwards, was conscious again and able to speak. A police officer also fell seriously ill and by 22 March had recovered enough to leave hospital. An additional 46 people sought medical advice after the attack, but none required treatment. In the 1990s, Sergei Skripal was an officer for Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and worked as a double agent for the UK's Secret Intelligence Service from 1995 until his arrest in Moscow in December 2004. He was convicted of high treason and sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony by a Russian court in 2006. He settled in the UK in 2010 following the Illegals Program spy swap. While Sergei is a British citizen, Yulia is a Russian citizen and was visiting her father from Moscow at the time of the poisoning. Later in March, the British government accused Russia of attempted murder and announced diplomatic sanctions against Russia, including the expulsion of numerous diplomats accused of being intelligence agents. The UK's stand received support from the United States and other allies while Russia denied the accusations. The US, the European Union, NATO, most EU countries, and some other countries also took similar measures against Russia. Ten European states did not support the accusations formally, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Luxembourg.