Britain hails ‘turning point’ after Russian spy expulsions

Britain Tuesday hailed the mass expulsion of more than 100 suspected Russian diplomats around the world as a “turning point” for the West’s attitude toward Russia, as Moscow warned it would retaliate against “loutish behavior.”

Ireland on Tuesday became the latest country to order out a Russian diplomat, with at least 117 Russian diplomats ordered out by 24 governments over two days, dwarfing similar measures during Cold War spying disputes.

“Never before have so many countries come together to expel Russian diplomats,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote in The Times, calling it “a “blow from which Russian intelligence will need many years to recover.”

“I believe that yesterday’s events could become a turning point,” he said, adding: “The Western alliance took decisive action and Britain’s partners came together against the Kremlin’s reckless ambitions.”

The expulsions were a response to the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer imprisoned by Moscow for passing on information about Russian agents in various European countries, came to Britain in a 2010 spy swap.

Britain earlier ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats after blaming Moscow for the attack – a charge fiercely denied by Moscow, which has pointed the finger at British intelligence.

Russia on Tuesday promised it would hit back.

“We’ll respond, have no doubt! No one wants to put up with such loutish behaviour and we won’t,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on the sidelines of a conference in Uzbekistan on Tuesday.

Lavrov said the coordinated response was the result of “colossal pressure, colossal blackmail” from the US.

Washington led the way in a coordinated response after Britain’s calls for international action by ordering out 60 Russians in a new blow to USRussia ties.