Providing an antidote to Putin’s poison

Since the horrors of the First World War, all civilized nations have foresworn the use of chemical weapons. During the Cold War, the horrific potential of these weapons was considered so awful that chemical weapons were considered on a par with nuclear weapons. But this year, the United Kingdom was attacked with chemical weapons. Specifically, it was attacked by Russia.

The attack was small, it’s true, and seemingly targeted a specific person: Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and a spy for the West. Skripal’s cover was blown years ago; he was arrested by Russian authorities and then eventually released as part of a prisoner exchange, settling in the United Kingdom. Many such enemies of the Russian regime, and of Vladimir Putin, have come to cruelly unpleasant ends in recent years. Skripal and his daughter were almost the latest, after they were exposed to a nerve agent, Novichok, in Salisbury, England, in March. But they weren’t the only victims. One of the reasons chemical weapons are so rightly regarded with revulsion is their imprecision. A police officer who came to the aid of the Skripals was exposed and left critically ill. Months later, 13 kilometres away, two Britons came across the perfume bottle used to poison the Skripals with Novichok. They became severely ill as well. One of them, Dawn Sturgess, died.

There was never any real doubt that Russia was responsible. The target and method of attack was obviously intended to leave Russia only the tiniest shred of plausible deniability. Putin wants his enemies to know he’s coming for them. But any remaining questions were answered this week when the U.K. announced that, after months of investigating, it had been able to definitively identify two Russian intelligence agents, and link them to the poisonings. Ben Wallace, the U.K.’s security minister, assigned the responsibility for the attack directly to Putin, pointing out there is no way a Russian intelligence agency would launch an attack against a Western country with a military-grade weapon of mass destruction without Putin’s knowledge and consent. Quite right.

This doesn’t tell us anything about Putin that we didn’t already know. The man is a menace, and he is clearly willing to push the West as hard as we’ll let him. Britain’s allies, including Canada, have been quick to offer verbal support and public declarations of solidarity, but that alone won’t deter Putin. Ever-tougher sanctions, and credible threats of clandestine retaliation against any such outrages, will. The free world should stand with Britain to give such measures maximum heft.