‘Cold War is back with a vengeance’

Warning as UK-Russia relations hit a new low

BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May was locked in a face-off with Vladimir Putin last night after linking the Salisbury poisonings to the Syria crisis.

And as the propaganda battle plunged UK-Russia relations to new lows, UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres warned: ‘The Cold War is back – with a vengeance.’

Arguing for action against the Assad regime for deploying chlorine gas, Mrs May cited the nerve agent attack on the Skripals as evidence that the 100-year taboo on using chemical weapons was being eroded. And her officials released a dossier directly accusing Moscow of being behind last month’s attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

The Kremlin responded by warning against a repeat of Tony Blair’s ‘reckless military adventure’ in Iraq. The Russian military even claimed London had faked the gas attack near Damascus.

Amid the growing tensions, Mr Guterres told the UN that the Middle East was in such chaos it had become a threat to international peace and security.

The British prime minister is understood to be preparing to give the green light to military strikes against Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s forces within 48 hours.

It is understood she will explain her decision to respond to a chemical attack in Douma to MPs on Monday, but there will be no UK parliamentary vote.

In a letter to Nato chiefs, the PM’s national security adviser laid out the British intelligence pointing at the Kremlin for the poisoning of the Skripals last month.

Officials across the British government were last night in talks with their counterparts in France and the US to make the final preparations before ordering an assault. It is understood there was silence from Donald Trump and the US for operational reasons and to leave an ‘element of surprise’.

Mrs May is expected to have a telephone call with the US president and France’s Emmanuel Macron before a final order is given to strike. British military planners are understood to have identified targets that have been linked to chemical weapons attacks. A British source said: ‘It is all down to the Americans. We are ready to go. It could be that nothing happens.’

Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, held a press conference at his residence accusing Britain of peddling myths about Russia’s activities.

He compared allegations that the Syrian government had gassed its own people to Tony Blair’s claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, and also suggested the alleged use of chemical weapons was a hoax and may have been used to discredit Assad.

The Russian embassy in the UK said: ‘Military strikes may be used to cover up all the evidence, or lack thereof, on the ground.’

Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the country’s military had ‘proof that testifies to the direct participation of Britain in the organising of this provocation in eastern Ghouta’.

He said Britain had told the White Helmets, volunteers who act as first responders in rebel-held areas, to fake the suspected chemical attack. British intelligence sources said, however, it was ‘crystal clear’ the Syrian regime was behind the attack and ‘nobody serious’ in the international community had any doubt about this.

Meanwhile, former Russian general Evgeny Buzhinskiy warned that Moscow could hit Britain’s base in Cyprus if the RAF or other UK forces attacked Assad’s bases.

Yesterday also saw details emerge of the British cabinet meeting Mrs May held on Thursday, where she won the backing of her ministers to proceed with military action without a parliamentary vote.

She told the cabinet: ‘Since 1918 we have worked to uphold the international norm that chemical weapons are abhorrent and never be used. In recent years that international norm has been eroded and that should be a matter of deep concern to us all.

‘The use of chemical weapons should not go unchallenged.’

Downing Street sources said Mrs May made the point that these weapons had been used a number of times in Syria – and also in Salisbury.

‘It’s all down to the Americans’