MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - Moscow holds that Sergei and Yulia Skripal are citizens of Russia and demands it be provided consular access to them, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"We hold that this is about Russian citizens, Yulia Skripal and Sergei Skripal. It's in this very capacity that we have asked for access to them, and I'd like to remind you once again that we have been denied this," Zakharova said at a news briefing on Thursday.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal "have not been shown to anyone," she said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's calling Sergei Skripal a "traitor" and a "scumbag" has no relation to attempts by Russian diplomats to gain consular access to him, Zakharova said.
"I don't see any relation between such statements and the work done by our consuls. The statement you quoted was made yesterday, while our consuls have been trying to gain access to the Skripals for six months. What relationship is here? There is no relationship," she said.
"A court found [Skripal] to be a traitor," Zakharova said. "What the president of the Russian Federation said yesterday, he was simply referring to the court's conclusion," she said.
Putin said on Wednesday that the scandal surrounding the poisoning of the Skripals was being artificially whipped up.
"He's just a spy. A traitor to his motherland. There is such a term: traitor to one's motherland. He is one of them," Putin said.
"Just imagine: you suddenly have someone who betrays your country. How would you treat him? Anyone sitting here, a representative of any country? He [Skripal] is just a scumbag, that's it," Putin said.