Russia calls British PM Theresa May spy attack allegations a 'circus'

Russia said on Monday that British Prime Minister Theresa May's allegations Moscow was probably behind an attack on a former Russian spy in England were politically motivated and based on a provocation, Russian news agencies reported.

May said on Monday it was "highly likely" that Moscow was responsible for poisoning former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4.

"It is a circus show in the British parliament," the TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

"The conclusion is obvious: It's another political information campaign, based on a provocation."

Earlier on Monday, one senior British lawmaker said UK PM Theresa May will bring Britain's parliament up to date on the investigation into a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy.

Russian President Vladimir Putin brushed off a question about the affair while visiting a grain centre in Krasnodar, southern Russia, saying British authorities should first "get to the bottom of things," the BBC's Moscow correspondent wrote on Twitter.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in a critical condition since March 4 when they were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury.

May has warned that if Russia is behind the poisoning of Skripal, a former colonel in GRU military intelligence, then Britain will respond robustly. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack which also struck down a British policeman.

The chairman of the British parliament's foreign affairs committee, Tom Tugendhat, said the attack looked like state-sponsored attempted murder and he thought May, who chaired a meeting of top ministers and security officials, would say Russia was responsible.

"Frankly I would be surprised if she did not point the finger at the Kremlin," Tugendhat told BBC radio. May will address parliament at about 1700 GMT.Even though Britain has not officially blamed Russia, the affair has driven already poor relations lower.

Russia's foreign ministry said London was whipping up anti-Russian hysteria while state TV went further, accusing Britain of poisoning Skripal as part of a special operation designed to spoil Russia's hosting of the soccer World Cup this summer.

Asked by the BBC whether Russia was involved, Putin said: "We're dealing with agriculture here...& you talk to me about some tragedies. Get to the bottom of things there, then we'll discuss this", the broadcaster's Moscow correspondent tweeted.

Tugendhat said Russia's so-called oligarchs, who have amassed fortunes during Putin's 18-year rule, should be denied entry to the luxuries of London and the West.

The British capital has been dubbed "Londongrad" due to the large quantities of Russian money that have poured in since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.British counter-terrorism police say a nerve agent - usually a small molecule that interferes with the transmission of nerve signals - was used on Skripal and his daughter.

But they have refused to specify which poison was used. A British policeman who was one of the first to attend to the stricken spy was also affected by the nerve agent. He is now conscious in a serious but stable condition, police said.