The Latest: UK says spy-attack blame goes to top of Kremlin

MOSCOW (AP) - The Latest on the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy (all times local):

5:25 p.m.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Russia carried out a nerve-agent attack on British soil because the U.K. has "time and again called out Russia over its abuses" of human rights and democratic values.

Britain claims the Russian state was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok, a Soviet-developed type of nerve agent. Russia denies involvement in the March 4 attack in the English city of Salisbury.

Johnson told a committee of lawmakers that responsibility leads "back to the Russian state and those at the top."

Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each other's diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to the attack, and Britain is seeking to rally allies for new measures against Moscow.

Johnson said the nerve-agent attack had prompted "a mountain of disgust globally." He said he had been pleasantly surprised "at the strength of the solidarity that there is with the U.K."

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5 p.m.

A senior Russian Foreign Ministry official says that Russia won't recognize results of an investigation being conducted by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons of the poisoning of an ex-spy in Britain.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter are still in critical condition after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent earlier this month. Britain believes Russia was behind the attack.

Vladimir Yermakov, deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's department for non-proliferation, was asked during a briefing whether Moscow would accept the results of the OPCW probe.

Yermakov said that "unscrupulous efforts" to investigate the attack without sharing the case files with Moscow "is not going to work for us."

Yermakov earlier said Russia is willing to cooperate with Britain as long as it shares all findings of the probe.

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4:25 p.m.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is calling for "transparency from Russia" over the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in Britain.

Britain has blamed Russia for being behind the March 4 poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The case prompted the two nations to expel diplomats in a tit-for-tat dispute.

Merkel emphasized Germany's solidarity with Britain in a speech to lawmakers in Berlin on Wednesday. She said that "a lot of evidence points to Russia and so transparency from Russia is required to quell the suspicion."

Merkel added: "I would be happy if I didn't have to name Russia here, but we can't disregard evidence because we don't want to name Russia."

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4 p.m.

A Russian foreign ministry official says Moscow fears that Britain could destroy key evidence in the nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy.

Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter remain in critical condition in the English city of Salisbury after being poisoned on March 4. Britain has blamed Russia for being behind the attack, and the case prompted the two nations to expel diplomats in a tit-for-tat dispute.

Vladimir Yermakov, deputy head of the ministry's department for non-proliferation, told a briefing for foreign envoys Wednesday that Britain is "hiding facts" and that key evidence might "disappear."

The Russian foreign ministry had invited foreign ambassadors in Moscow to brief them about the allegations, but the British and the U.S. missions shunned the meeting and sent lower-level diplomats instead.