24 HOURS TO COME CLEAN...
»»May’s ultimatum to Vlad »»Trump supports the UK as nerve agent identified over assassination storm
RUSSIA has been warned by the UK it has 24 hours to come clean over the Salisbury attack – or face the consequences.
The Prime Minister said it was “highly likely” Moscow directed the “reckless” bid to assassinate former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on British soil.
Without a “credible response” by tonight, Theresa May said she would conclude there was an “unlawful use of force” by President Vladimir Putin’s regime and would respond with a “full range” of “robust” measures.
The US said it would “stand by” the UK and was ready to offer help.
Mrs May told MPS the poison used was Novichok, a nerve agent “of a type developed by Russia”.
Russia was given until midnight to give “full and complete disclosure” of its Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson summoned Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, to the Foreign Office yesterday to issue the ultimatum. Mrs May said: “On Wednesday we will consider in detail the response from the Russian state.
“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 United Kingdom, and I will come back to this House and set out the full range of measures that we will take.
“This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals. It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk. And we will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.”
Measures being considered included the expulsion of diplomats, fresh financial curbs on Russians, and new military deployments to Eastern Europe, Whitehall sources said.
Mrs May was briefed by MI5 and MI6 bosses. She told MPS: “It is now clear that
Mr Skripal Donald Trump and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia.”
Russia dismissed her Commons statement as a “fairytale”.
Asked if Russia was to blame, Mr Putin said: “Get to the bottom of things there, then we’ll discuss this.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Mrs May’s statement was “a circus show”.
She warned Britain was playing a “dangerous game” with “long-term consequences”. Mr Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a shopping centre bench in Salisbury, Wiltshire last week.
They remained seriously ill in hospital last night along with Det Sgt Nick Bailey, 38, the first police officer at the scene. The attack was a “war-like act” that was “deeply threatening to the British people”, Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said. Tory ex-leader Iain Duncan Smith told Mrs May the Commons would “back her” to take “the most severe action
as is required” against NOVICHOK nerve agents were first developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. They are “binary weapons” – two relatively harmless chemicals that become deadly only when mixed together.
Novichoks, which means newcomers in Russian, are eight times stronger than VX gas.
They can be used in powder form and take effect in 30 seconds.
Colonel Hamish de the Kremlin. He said: “Russia is now as close to being a rogue state as any. It occupies Crimea, it has helped occupy eastern Ukraine, created hell on earth in Syria and is now overseeing worse action.
“This is a country locking up its members of the opposition. We’ve learned this lesson before – if we appease a country like this then we expect even worse.”
Mrs May replied: “He is absolutely right, nobody should be in any doubt of the various activities the Russian state is involved in across Europe and elsewhere. It is important that this Government, that this country, stands up very clearly and not only calls out
CONDEMNS ATTEMPTED MURDER OF FORMER RUSSIAN SPY
Bretton-gordon, ex-chief of Britain’s Chemical, Biological Radiation and Nuclear Regiment, said: “Skripal would only have needed to touch it for it to be absorbed into his bloodstream.”
This is the first example of Novichok being used.
It works by interfering with the central nervous system and attacking muscles around the heart, leading to respiratory and cardiac arrest, then death. actions by Russia but also ensures that we have a robust response to them.”
She added that given “Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations, and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the Government has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal”.
Mrs May said the only possible explanations were that “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”.
The White House has said it is closely monitoring the situation and took it “very seriously”. Speaking on behalf of President Donald Trump, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: “Right now we are standing with our UK ally... We certainly stand with them throughout this process. We are ready if we can be of any assistance.”
We will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.
THERESA MAY