Moscow will expel British diplomats in response to Londons move to kick out 23 staff at the Russian embassy in London over the poisoning of ex-double agent Sergei Skripal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday. "Of course we will," Lavrov told journalists when asked whether Russia will respond to the expulsion announced by British PM Theresa May in kind. He did not give any further details. Lavrov was speaking at a summit on Syria in the Kazakh capital. His comment came a day after Britain and its allies blamed Moscow directly for the poison attack on the double agent in England. The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and the United States said there was "no plausible alternative explanation" for the use of the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok in the English city of Salisbury. In a joint statement, they demanded Moscow "address all questions" related to the attack against Skripal, which they said amounted to a "breach of international law". Skripal moved to Britain in a 2010 spy swap and had taken his daughter Yulia, who was on a visit, out for lunch before they both collapsed on a bench in the street on March 4. They remain in critical condition. The nerve toxin that poisoned them was planted in his daughters suitcase before she left Moscow, The Telegraph newspaper reported, citing unidentified sources. Yulia Skripal flew to London from Russia on March 3, according to counter-terrorism police. British investigators are working on the theory that the toxin was impregnated in an item of clothing or cosmetics or in a gift that was opened in Skripals house in Salisbury, the Telegraph said, citing the unidentified sources. lexander Yakovenko, Russias ambassador to Britain, said on Friday that Moscow would exert maximum pressure on London in the strandoff, the Interfax news agency cited him as saying. Londons expulsion of the 23 Russian diplomats amounted to a 40 percent staff cut and would seriously affect the work of his embassy, he was also cited as saying. In an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel, Yakovenko also accused Britain of cranking up its aggression against Moscow in order to distract the British public from the difficulties it was having managing the countrys 2019 exit from the European Union.