MOSCOW. Sept 13 (Interfax) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said that London crossed the so-called red line in many aspects of the Russian-British bilateral relations and international law.
Journalists attending Zakharova's press briefing at the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday drew attention to a statement aired earlier at Russia's State Duma that accusations against the Russian leadership over the Skripal case are unacceptable and can trigger the severing of diplomatic relations between Moscow and London. In this regard, Zakharova was asked the question: "Where is that red line beyond which this breaking off [of diplomatic relations] begins?"
"Public figures, pundits and journalists are the kind of people that can by right make such statements as their own personal forecast about what is going on," Zakharova said in reply to the question.
"But in this case a nation's representatives or leadership have the priority," she said.
"The red line is a metaphor, a figure of speech and in my view, this red line has largely been left behind [by London] in a number of indicators," she said.
Such indicators include "honor and dignity, respect for freedom of expression and for independence of the media," Zakharova explained.
"One can also talk about respect and caring for the United Nations system and its institutions, for the international law as a whole," she said.
"With regard to the points on this list, the red line is left far behind," Zakharova said.