Putin questioned over Russian spy poisoning by BBC journalist: 'Is Russia behind it?'

Russian president seems to chuckle at question, saying 'Look, we are busy here with agriculture'

Vladimir Putin has told a BBC journalist to “get to the bottom of things there first” before asking him questions about the poisoning of ex-spy in Salisbury over a week ago.

Mr Putin was approached by the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg and asked whether Russia was behind Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok in the Wiltshire city.

Mr Putin, attending an election campaign event before Russia’s presidential election on Sunday, appeared to chuckle at the question, saying: “Look, we are busy here with agriculture.”

“As you can see, the aim is to create good conditions for people’s lives, and you ask about some tragedies,” he said.

“Get to the bottom of things there first, and then we’ll talk about it.”

The country’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told Theresa May it is "not to blame” for the attack and has demanded access to samples of the nerve agent used in the incident.

Mr Putin also shrugged off other accusations from the US over meddling in their 2016 election, saying last week in a television interview: “So what? I don’t care. I couldn’t care less.”