Britain hails ‘turning point’ after Russian spy expulsions
LONDON: Britain Tuesday hailed the mass expulsion of suspected Russian spies around the world as a ‘turning point’ for the West’s attitude to a ‘reckless’ Russia, as Moscow prepared its response.
At least 116 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments on Monday, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious 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 daily, 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.
Russia has warned it is preparing a tit-for-tat response to those countries “pandering to British authorities” without, Moscow claims, fully understanding what had happened.
“These expulsions are particularly destructive for USRussia relations,” foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov wrote in the Vedomosti daily.
“Relations between Russia and the West are entering a period of full Cold War,” he said.
The Izvestia daily dismissed the expulsions as a “russophobic flashmob”.
But Western officials made it clear in announcing the expulsions that they share Britain’s assessment that only the Kremlin could have been behind the incident.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders on Monday said Washington and its allies were acting “in response to Russia’s use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom.”
US officials said that 48 “intelligence officers” attached to Russian diplomatic missions in the US would be expelled, along with 12 accredited to the United Nations in New York.
In addition, the Russian consulate general in Seattle will be closed, the White House said.
This represents the largest US expulsion of Russian or Soviet agents ever and comes after Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama expelled 35 in late 2016 over alleged election meddling.
Russia’s foreign ministry warned that the “unfriendly step by this group of countries will not pass without trace and we will respond to it.”
The Russian embassy in Washington asked its Twitter followers to vote on which US consulate should be closed, listing those in Vladivostok, St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg as options.