Canada expels Russian diplomats
Move in line with U.S., Europe as response for British poison attack
Four Russian spies based in Canada have been ordered out of the country as Western governments seek to condemn the Kremlin’s alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian agent and his daughter in Britain.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the expulsions Monday as the U.S. and more than a dozen European allies took similar action against dozens of Russian diplomats in their own countries.
The scope of the mass expulsions appears to be unprecedented since the Cold War; British Prime Minister Theresa May said a total of more than 100 Russian diplomats in 18 countries had been told to go home.
The move follows the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury on March 4 by what has been described as a military-grade nerve agent.
The two remain in critical condition in hospital. A British police officer who found the pair unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre was also hospitalized, but has since been released.
The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attack on Skripal, who served as a double agent for British intelligence in the 1990s before being arrested by Russian authorities and later transferred to the United Kingdom in a spy swap.
But Western governments have nonetheless blamed Russia for what Freeland described in a strongly worded statement as a “despicable, heinous and reckless act, potentially endangering the lives of hundreds.
“The nerve-agent attack represents a clear threat to the rules-based international order and to the rules that were established by the international community to ensure chemical weapons would never again destroy human lives.’’
The attack in Salisbury is the latest in a string of inappropriate Russian behaviour, Freeland added, including the annexation of Crimea, support for rebel forces in Ukraine and efforts to interfere in other countries’ elections.
The Russian Embassy in Ottawa called the expulsions “highly deplorable and outrageous,’’ and accused Canada of “obediently’’ following the U.S. and Britain amid “baseless’’ allegations against Moscow.