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Majority of Russians Deny Moscow's Involvement in Salisbury Incident – Poll

© REUTERS / Peter NichollsThe forensic tent, covering the bench where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found, is repositioned by officials in protective suits in the centre of Salisbury, Britain, March 8, 2018
The forensic tent, covering the bench where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found, is repositioned by officials in protective suits in the centre of Salisbury, Britain, March 8, 2018 - Sputnik International
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Russian citizens do not believe that Moscow was somehow involved in the poisoning of the former military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia despite London's constant groundless accusations of alleged "Russian plot", the independent non-governmental Public Opinion Foundation's (FOM) survey revealed on Monday.

A total of 54 percent of the respondents said that Moscow was not behind the Skripals poisoning, while 3 percent said that Russia is involved in the incident and 13 percent opted not answer the question, the poll indicated.

Among those, who think that Russia is innocent of the poisoning, 16 percent said that the UK intelligence attempted to poison the double agent, while 12 percent think that the incident was the provocation against Russia.

As for the response to the diplomatic actions by a number of Western states, who expelled the Russian diplomats and introduced sanctions against Moscow, most of the surveyed, 32 percent, said that Russia should respond "symmetrically", while 20 percent said that their country’s response should be "tougher," according to the pollster.

View of the Moscow Kremlin from the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge. (File) - Sputnik International
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At the same time, 44 percent of Russians believe that that the conflict will "wane" in the next six months, while 14 percent said that the row will escalate.

The poll was conducted among 1,500 adult Russian citizens, the margin error not over 3.6 percent.

Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious in March on a bench at a shopping center in the UK city of Salisbury. British Authorities have accused Moscow of orchestrating the attack with what UK experts claim was a military-grade nerve agent. Moscow has denied having any role in the poisoning, pointing to the lack of evidence provided by London to substantiate its accusations.

The allegations against Russia have already resulted in a wide-scale diplomatic crisis, with London and more than 25 countries which supported its claims expelling over 150 Russian diplomats. In response, Moscow also announced that it would expel foreign diplomats.

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