The UK wants to prod European Union to slap sanctions on Russia over the controversial poisoning of a Russian double agent which London blames on Moscow, a report said.

According to Bloomberg, UK Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to attend a dinner at the EU summit on Thursday and share secret intelligence data on the Skripal case with London’s EU allies in a bid to prod them to tighten screws on Russia.

It cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter as saying that May wants EU leaders to follow Britain’s example by accusing Russia of Skripal’s poisoning and taking action against Russia’s intelligence agents.

“The challenge of Russia is one that will endure for years to come. As a European democracy, the UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and NATO to face these threats together. United, we will succeed,” May will say during the Thursday summit, according to preliminary transcript of the speech released by her office.

May’s speech will come just a day after Vladimir Ermakov, head of the non-proliferation and arms control department at the Russian Defense Ministry, said in connection with the Skripal case that “either the British authorities are unable to protect [people] from a terrorist attack on their territory or they staged the attack themselves.”

He stressed that Russia “can bear no responsibility for the actions or lack of actions on British soil,” adding that the attack on the Skripals is a “gross folly,” which is not beneficial to Russia.

Source: Agencies