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LONDON, U.K. – Ties between the United Kingdom and Russia hit a new low after the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May blamed the nerve agent poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil on the Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

The evidence cited by the U.K. during a high level meeting convinced other top nations in the EU and along with the U.S., several nations slapped sanctions on Russia and expelled Russian diplomats – provoking a tit-for-tat response.

While European countries expelled a total of 100 Russian diplomats and received a similar response, the U.S. took the strongest action against Russia since 1986 – expelling 60 Russian diplomats, labelling them spies.

For months since then, Russia has stood by its denial in the poisoning of its former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, investigators in the U.K. has been hunting for incriminating evidence linking the Russian government to the poisoning. 

This week, the clash between Russia and the U.K. turned more bitter, after a British spy chief said accused two Russian agents of carrying out the attempted murder of the Skripals.

The two Russian nationals were charged by British prosecutors with the attack on the Skripals in the English city of Salisbury using the nerve agent Novichok.

After the charges were unveiled, U.K. PM May revealed that the two men were officers in Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU.

She alleged that the two men, identified as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were acting on orders from senior Kremlin figures.

However, Russia rejected the accusations, calling them unacceptable.

Russia even dismissed the evidence presented by the U.K. at a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the attack, as “lies.”

Despite Moscow’s denials, the U.S., France, Germany and Canada agreed with the U.K. that Russia was behind the Novichok attack in Salisbury.

In a joint statement, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Donald Trump, Justin Trudeau and Theresa May pledged to work to disrupt “the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks.”

The statement said, “We, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, reiterate our outrage at the use of a chemical nerve agent, known as Novichok, in Salisbury on March 4.”

Subsequently, U.K.’s cyber intelligence agency – GCHQ disputed Russia’s denial and warned the world, “The threat from Russia is real. It’s active.”

Delivering a speech at the Billington Cyber Security Conference in Washington, GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming said that his staff had helped the “painstaking and highly complex investigation” into identifying those responsible for the Salisbury poisonings.

He pointed out that Russia’s desire to “undermine” international law was “brazen.”

According to extracts of his speech released by his office, Fleming said, “We have ascertained exactly who was responsible and the methods they used. The threat from Russia is real. It’s active and it will be countered by a strong international partnership of allies, able to deploy the full range of tools from across our national security apparatus, and ready to reject the Kremlin’s brazen determination to undermine the international rules based order.”

He further added, “And it will be countered by a strong international partnership of allies. Able to deploy the full range of tools from across our national security apparatus.”

In a separate interview, Britain’s ambassador to the UN, Karen Pierce, said she was “really disappointed” that Russia was refusing to engage or acknowledge the seriousness of the situation.

Pierce added that Russia “often only has a negative agenda” with regards to international affairs.

Scandal in a sleepy cathedral town

The poisoning of the 66-year-old controversial former Russian double agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury caused the already fractured diplomatic ties between Russia and the West to explode.

The former Russian spy, who was once a colonel in Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, worked as a double agent for the British intelligence.

In 2004, Skripal was arrested in Russia and was sentenced to prison for spying for Britain. 

Then, in 2010, in a cold-war style spy swap, Skripal was released in return for ten Russian agents who were operating in the U.S.

Since then, the former Russian double agent had decided to settle in the sleepy cathedral town of Salisbury, southwest of London and managed to lead a quiet life there until earlier this year.

In March, Skripal, along with his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia Skripal were found slumped over on a bench outside a Salisbury shopping mall, in an unresponsive state.

After establishing the identities of the victims, Britain spent days trying to figure out what sickened the Skripals.

U.K. investigators eventually learned that the father and daughter duo had been poisoned by a rare, Soviet era nerve agent called Novichok. 

With fingers immediately pointing at the Kremlin, British authorities warned Russia that the U.K. would respond strictly if the Kremlin was behind the poisoning. 

Eventually, in April, the U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May presented some proof and managed to convince EU leaders and the U.S. of Kremlin’s involvement – leading to action from several nations.