Russia's Foreign Ministry says British authorities have boarded and searched a plane belonging to Aeroflot at London’s Heathrow Airport as tensions between the two countries rise.
Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said no reason for the alleged search of an Aeroflot Airbus A321 passenger liner on March 30 was given and that it was a "provocation," according to RFE/RL.
Britain’s Metropolitan Police denied they had conducted any search of an Airbus at Heathrow.
"We are aware of a story circulating on social media. Please be advised that Metropolitan Police are not conducting a search of an Airbus inbound from Moscow at Heathrow," the police said in a tweet.
Read alsoBritain shares "unprecedented" Skripal intelligence with alliesThe reports come the same day Russia served expulsion notices to dozens of staff from Western embassies in a diplomatic tit-for-tat ignited by the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
The Skripals were found slumped on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Moscow has denied it was behind the attack and has called on Britain to prove it did not itself poison Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter.
Read alsoSuitcase spy poisoning plot: nerve agent 'was planted in luggage of Sergei Skripal's daughter' – mediaBoth Skripals have been hospitalized since the attack in critical condition, but British health officials said on March 29 that Yulia Skripal was "improving rapidly" and was no longer in critical condition.
