German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hope on Friday that Russia would take part in the investigation of the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
"I can only hope that Russia will also take part in this investigation," Merkel said at a briefing.
However, the chancellor mentioned the alleged traces in the attack, pointing, as she claimed, to the Russian responsibility for it.
"Many traces indicate that Russia is responsible here," she stated during a joint press-conference with French President Emmanuel Macron. "It is good that the British government will now provide samples [of the substance that was used to poison Skripal] to international organizations," Merkel said, adding that she was going to discuss the "appropriate reaction that will follow" with Macron.
The same position has been voiced by the French president, who has also blamed Moscow for the attack.
"Everything indicates that it was Russia who committed this murder attempt," he said.
Earlier in the day, Russian Envoy to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Alexander Shulgin said that Moscow was interested in determining the truth in the Skripal case more than London.
Meanwhile, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz has said that Poland is ready to join new sanctions against Russia that could be imposed over the Skripal's poisoning.
"Speaking about the sanctions, Poland could support such activities… I have expressed my readiness to touch on this issue on Monday during the session of the EU foreign ministers, this topic has been put on the agenda [of the meeting]," Czaputowicz said.
The politician added that the international community should show decisiveness in this issue.
The stetement of the Polish senior official comes a day after French President Emmanuel Macron said he would announce the measures against Moscow "in the coming days," and condemned the attack, in which "everything points to the fact that Russia is responsible."
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Sergei Skripal, who was accused of espionage on behalf of London and later granted asylum in the United Kingdom after a US-Russia spy exchange, and his daughter were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury. Both of them remain in critical condition and are being treated for suspected exposure to a nerve agent, supposedly the substance known as Novichok.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has refuted all the allegations and requested the UK Foreign Office for a joint investigation into the case. The proposal was ignored by the UK leadership, with May announcing a package of anti-Russian measures, including the expulsion of Russian diplomats, and suspension of bilateral contacts between London and Moscow.
