The European Union slaps sanctions on the two most senior officers in Russian military intelligence and identifies the two agents accused by Britain of carrying out a chemical attack.

British Prime Minister Theresa May expells 23 diplomats and suspended high-level contacts with Russia including for the World Cup, saying her government found Moscow "culpable" of a nerve agent attack on a former spy.

British Prime Minister Theresa May says it was "highly likely" that Moscow is responsible for the poisoning in England of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter using a military-grade nerve agent.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was convicted by Russia of betraying agents to British intelligence, is critically ill after exposure to an unidentified substance in Britain, two sources close to the investigation tells Reuters.