Russia chides UK for blaming Putin for poisoning

The Kremlin has denounced British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson's claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the poisoning of an ex-spy as "shocking and inexcusable."

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that Johnson's statement was "shocking and inexcusable breach of diplomatic propriety."

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that it's "overwhelmingly likely" that Putin ordered the use of a nerve agent against former spy Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury.

Peskov emphasized that "we have repeatedly said that Russia has no relation to that."

Britain has announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning, and Russia said it would respond in kind.