Allies back Britain in Russia row

Diplomats around the world sent home over poisoning in England of former spy

Fifteen European Union members, the United States, Canada and Ukraine are expelling dozens of Russian diplomats in a co-ordinated response to the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain, the countries have announced.

The US and all EU member states have agreed that it is highly probable that the poisoning carried out in the English city of Salisbury was perpetrated by Russia. The countries have agreed to take action in solidarity with Britain.

British Prime Minister Theresa May described the response as the biggest collective expulsion of Russian diplomats in history.

More than 100 Russians in total have been expelled from 18 countries, May said in Parliament in London. Britain itself has expelled 23 diplomats.

“As a sovereign European democracy, the United Kingdom will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and with Nato to face down these threats together,” she said.

Earlier in the day, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter that “Russia cannot break international rules with impunity”.

Moscow’s Foreign Ministry condemned the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from Nato and EU member states and reiterated Russia’s denial that it had any involvement with a chemical weapon attack on British territory.

“This unfriendly act by this group of countries will not go without consequences. We will react,” the Foreign Ministry said.

The 15 EU countries were expelling more than 30 diplomats, according to an EU source. The countries taking action included Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, the Netherlands, Sweden and Poland, among others.

“Additional measures, including further expulsions within the common EU framework, are not to be excluded in the coming days and weeks,” said European Council President Donald Tusk.

The US has ordered 60 Russian diplomats to leave the country, as well as the closure of Moscow’s consulate in Seattle.

The Russians and their families have seven days to leave the United States, senior White House officials said.

The officials noted that 12 of the 60 Russians had been identified as Russian intelligence officers stationed at the United Nations in New York. The closure of the consulate in Seattle was ordered because of its proximity to a US naval base.

Germany said it would expel four Russian diplomats. The decision is not only an act of solidarity with Britain following the chemical attack, but also retribution for a cyberattack on the German Foreign Ministry, believed to have been launched out of Russia.

The former spy, Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, are in hospital in critical condition after being found unconscious on a bench in the southern English city of Salisbury. British authorities have said the Skripals were attacked with a Russian-developed nerve toxin identified as Novichok. — dpa