YEREVAN, MARCH 23, ARMENPRESS. EU leaders see “no plausible alternative explanation” for the Skripal poisoning and are set to recall their ambassador to Russia for consultations, pressured by the UK to hold the Kremlin responsible for it without due process, RT reports.

Following talks on Thursday, the leaders of 28 European nations agreed with the British assessment that it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind this month's poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The European Council “agrees with the United Kingdom government’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation,” the member states said in a joint statement.

While the EU Council insisted that member states “will coordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities,” the bloc made a decision to recall its ambassador from Moscow. The EU envoy “is being recalled for consultations to Brussels,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, noting that the “measure”was not a “sanction,” and that the ambassador was not being withdrawn from his post in Moscow.

On 4 March 2018, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer, and his daughter Yulia, visiting him from Moscow, were poisoned with an alleged Russia-made nerve agent in Salisbury, England. As of 13 March 2018, they remain critically ill at Salisbury District Hospital. The poisoning is being investigated by British authorities as attempted murder.

The United Kingdom believes it is "highly likely" that the Russian government was behind the attack. Russia denies any involvement.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan