‘Certainly a warlike act’ by Russia
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Skripal worked for British intelligence and was poisoned on British soil, and therefore the incident “has nothing to do with Russia, let alone the Russian leadership.”
May’s declaration comes less than a week before Russians vote in an election that will almost certainly grant Putin a fourth term as president. When asked if his country was to blame for the poisoning, Putin told the BBC: “Get to the bottom of things there, then we’ll discuss this.”
At stake for the U.K. is how much it is willing to alienate Russia, whose rich own property in London. Britain is withdrawing from the European Union and the world could be on the brink of a trade war should U.S. President Donald Trump push ahead with steel tariffs.
Hitting back at Putin, who has struck an air of increased defiance with the annexation of Crimea and incursions in Syria, will require careful geopolitical consideration. Tom Tugendhat, chair of British parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, urged May to seek the support of allies, including the EU and NATO: “This, if not an act of war, was certainly a warlike act,” he said.
The two victims of the attack were found unconscious in Salisbury after coming into contact with what police later identified as a nerve agent.
Skripal was a Russian military intelligence officer when he was recruited to spy for Britain in the 1990s. He was jailed in Russia in 2006 before being freed in a spy swapin2010.
Skripal and his daughter remain critically injured in hospital. A police officer who arrived early on the scene was also hospitalized in a serious condition.
Hundreds of police, military and security service personnel are involved in the investigation and operation to clean up the city. As many as 500 members of the public in the area may have been exposed to traces of the nerve agent.
British officials are working to build international support for a package of retaliatory measures against Putin’s regime. May is likely to hold talks with allies in the days ahead, her office said.
Members of Parliament said relations between Russia and the West were in a new “cool war” and urged May to consider reinforcing the U.K.’s military capabilities to deter future attacks. May said the Kremlin “seems to be intent on dismantling the international rules-based order” and must be resisted.
“This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals,” May said. “It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk — and we will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.”
May said Britain would be prepared to take “much more extensive measures” than the expulsions and limited sanctions imposed after the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium in London in 2006.