‘Who does Britain think it is?’
Tension between countries mounts as another enemy of Putin found dead
LONDON — Russia told Britain not to “threaten a nuclear power” in an extraordinary provocative statement Tuesday as the two countries battled over the attempted assassination of a former spy.
Meanwhile, the death of another enemy in London of Russian President Vladimir Putin was the focus of a new investigation by special counterterrorism detectives.
Nikolai Glushkov, 68, the righthand man of the deceased oligarch Boris Berezovsky — Putin’s once-fiercest rival — was found dead Monday in “unexplained” circumstances, said police. A Russian media source said Glushkov, the former boss of the state airline Aeroflot who said he believed he was on a Kremlin hit-list, was found with “strangulation marks” on his neck.
The new investigation comes a day after Britain ordered a review of up to 14 deaths in the country that may have connections to Russia.
“I will want to satisfy myself that the allegations are nothing more than that,” said Amber Rudd, the home secretary.
Britain gave Russia until midnight Tuesday to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent came to be used in an English city, or face retaliatory measures.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has said Russia’s involvement in the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a Russian who spied for Britain, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, was “highly likely.”
But Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, gave a combative television interview saying, “No one can come to parliament and say, ‘I give Russia 24 hours.’”
Zakharova said Britain should not try to scare Russia and pointed to Putin’s recent speech in which he presented a range of new nuclear weapons. The New Scotsman reported her as saying, “Who does Britain think it is, issuing ultimatums to a nuclear power?”
Russia also threatened to retaliate against sanctions, which May is expected to announce Wednesday.
The White House issued a statement saying the U.S. “stands in solidarity with its closest ally” and condemning the use of “heinous weapons in flagrant violation of international norms.”