Russia called on Wednesday for the United Nations Security Council to convene over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain. The country’s ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said Russia was requesting a Thursday meeting at 1900 GMT over the British governments implication of Moscow in the nerve agent attack on Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The Kremlin has vehemently denied the accusations and pushed London to provide evidence to back up its claim. Earlier, Russia President Vladimir Putin said Russia expects Britain and its allies to respect international law to end the simmering diplomatic crisis. Asked if Moscow expects Britain to retract its accusations against Russia over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy and offer an apology, Putin said that Russia has no such expectations but hopes that "reason will prevail." More than two dozen Western allies have expelled over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with Britain, and Russia responded quid pro quo. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow has suggested that the international chemical weapons watchdog set up a group of independent experts to look into the case. Ryabkov told the Tass news agency that the refusal by Britain and its allies to have an independent probe would signal their "intention to sacrifice the truth for the sake of their geopolitical ambitions." In Britain, meanwhile, the government is under pressure to reveal more details of its intelligence on the nerve agent poisoning, after the countrys defense research lab said it has not been able to pinpoint the precise source of the poison. The chief executive of the Porton Down laboratory, Gary Aitkenhead, said scientists there have identified the substance used on the Skripals as a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok. But he said Tuesday that "its not our job to say where that was actually manufactured." The British government stated that it relied on a combination of scientific analysis and other intelligence to conclude that the nerve agent came from Russia. Russia denies responsibility and has seized on Aitkenheads remarks to support its case. Britain is standing by its assessment, but the Foreign Office on Wednesday deleted a tweet from last month saying Porton Down scientists had identified the substance as "made in Russia."