The Province

U.K. blames Putin for poison attacks

Russians label British PM’s statement a ‘circus act’ as tensions rise over assassinat­ion attempts

- TIM ROSS, ROBERT HUTTON AND ALEX MORALES

Prime Minister Theresa May publicly blamed Russia for poisoning a former spy and his daughter on British soil, as escalating tension between the Kremlin and the West raised fears of a new Cold War.

In a dramatic statement to a hushed House of Commons, May announced that Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, had been targeted eight days ago with a “military grade” nerve agent known as “Novichok” that was developed by Russia.

She set President Vladimir Putin a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to provide a credible explanatio­n for the attack.

“Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country, or the Russian government lost control of this potentiall­y catastroph­ically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others,” May told Parliament in London on Monday.

May will meet with her intelligen­ce and security chiefs on Wednesday morning to assess the Russian response before deciding on retaliator­y measures that could range from the expulsion of diplomats to sanctions.

“Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the U.K.,” May said.

“And I will come back to this House and set out the full range of measures that we will take.”

Russia wasted little time in dismissing

the prime minister’s assessment. Foreign Ministry spokeswoma­n Maria Zakharova called May’s statement a “circus act.”

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 will require careful geopolitic­al considerat­ion. Tom Tugendhat, chair of 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, southwest of London, 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 for revealing state secrets before being freed in a spy swap in 2010.

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 and were advised to wash their clothes and clean their possession­s.

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 hours and 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.

 ?? — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday her government believes Russia poisoned a former spy and his daughter on U.K. soil and she’s prepared to take retaliator­y measures.
— THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday her government believes Russia poisoned a former spy and his daughter on U.K. soil and she’s prepared to take retaliator­y measures.

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