Putin given attack ultimatum
BRITAIN: Theresa May has given Russian President Vladimir Putin until midnight UK time (1pm NZ time) to explain the use of a Russian-made nerve agent in the Salisbury attack or face retaliation for ‘‘a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil’’.
The British prime minister told MPs yesterday that the government had concluded it was ‘‘highly likely that Russia was responsible’’ for the attempted murder of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, last weekend.
She also revealed that an illegal ‘‘weapons-grade’’ nerve agent known as Novichok was used in what she described as ‘‘an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom’’.
Novichok is one of the most deadly chemical weapons ever developed, with some variants being eight times more lethal than VX, the chemical used by North Korea to assassinate Kim Jongnam, the half-brother of Kim Jongun.
In a statement to the House of Commons, May accused the Kremlin of being ‘‘intent on dismantling the international rulesbased order’’, and called on Britain’s Nato allies to back ‘‘extensive measures’’ to punish Russia.
‘‘Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at ... Porton Down; our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so; Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the gov- ernment has concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
‘‘I share the impatience of this House and the country at large to bring those responsible to justice – and to take the full range of appropriate responses against those who would act against our country in this way.’’
The White House offered its ‘‘fullest condemnation’’ over the attack and said the United States would stand by ‘‘our closest ally’’.
May will consider Russia’s response today at a meeting of the National Security Council, which includes senior cabinet ministers and the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
‘‘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,’’ she said.
May is also expected to set out the ‘‘full range of measures’’ that Britain will take in response.
‘‘There can be no question of business as usual with Russia,’’ she said.
Calls for a boycott by England of the 2018 football World Cup in Russia have gathered pace. Russia’s state broadcaster accused Britain of poisoning Skripal and his daughter as a ploy to force a boycott of the competition.
Putin, meanwhile, issued a terse response when asked about the poisonings by the BBC, saying: ‘‘Get to the bottom of things there, then we’ll discuss this.’’
In Salisbury, the focus of the investigation has shifted to Skripal’s BMW car, in which experts now believe the nerve agent was planted.
Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko was summoned to the Foreign Office yesterday, where Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson expressed the ‘‘outrage’’ of the British public.
Johnson told Yakovenko that Moscow must ‘‘immediately provide full and complete disclosure of the Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’’.
– Telegraph Group