May ready to hit back at Russia over spy attack

BRITAIN: Prime Minister Theresa May is on the verge of publicly blaming Russia for the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal and ordering expulsions and sanctions against President Vladimir Putin’s regime.

An announcement could come as early as today after a meeting of the government’s National Security Council at which ministers will be presented with the latest intelligence on the Salisbury attack.

Senior government sources suggested that the police and security services had established sufficient evidence to link Moscow with the nerve agent used to try to kill the former Russian double agent and his 33-year-old daughter. One said that ministers were preparing to take a ‘‘hard line on early action’’.

Police and public health experts have upgraded their warnings about possible contamination, saying that hundreds of people who may have come into contact with the nerve agent should wash their clothes and other possessions.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said the guidance applied to anyone who had been in the Zizzi restaurant or The Mill pub in Salisbury between 1.30pm last Sunday and Monday evening (local times). The venues were visited by the Skripals on Sunday afternoon. The advice caused consternation locally, given that four days earlier Dame Sally had said that the sites had been ‘‘secured’’.

The authorities announced that up to 500 people could be affected and that the guidance was issued in the light of ‘‘new evidence’’, although they refused to specify what it was. The move coincided with a shift in focus by investigators back to the town centre where the Skripals collapsed on a bench in the Maltings shopping precinct. Officers were seen entering the Mill pub in poweredrespirator suits as floodlights were delivered to the site in the search for all traces of the chemical.

Ministers will receive an update, after which May is likely to make her first public statement linking Russia to the poisoning. A source close to the investigation said it was likely that those responsible would be named in the next

48 hours.

A statement is expected to be made to parliament along with the retaliatory measures. Among the options are:

❚ The immediate expulsion of senior Russian diplomats and spies and the revoking of British visas held by Kremlin-linked oligarchs.

❚ Financial curbs on figures linked to the Kremlin, including implementing so-called Magnitsky amendments in the sanctions bill before parliament.

❚ Withdrawing all official representation from the World Cup in Russia. Co-ordinating a statement of condemnation from allies including President Emmanuel Macron of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

The government is also considering symbolically boosting Britain’s military deployments in eastern Europe and pushing for a Nato-wide reinforcement at the alliance’s July summit. Ministers are also understood to be trying to win US support, but the Trump administration has not made any public comment.

Senior Whitehall sources said that ministers were acutely aware of the need for any British action to be backed by allies.

Philip Hammond, the chancellor of the exchequer, said yesterday that the police investigation should take its course but he added: ‘‘If there were to be an involvement of a foreign state, evidenced by this investigation, then obviously that would be very serious indeed and the government would respond appropriately.’’

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor of the exchequer, said he would boycott the state-owned broadcaster Russia Today (RT), telling The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One that the channel ‘‘goes beyond objective journalism’’ and it was ‘‘right’’ that Labour MPs did not appear on it.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: ‘‘I think the time has come to crack down on RT. Ofcom needs to look at whether it is a genuine news network.’’

Marina Litvinenko, widow of the murdered dissident Alexander, said the government had not learnt the lessons from his death more than a decade after he was poisoned. She said that she had received a letter from May in 2016 saying that the government would ‘‘take every step’’ to prevent such a crime being repeated. ‘‘But unfortunately it happened again, and the lesson after the murder of my husband was not learnt,’’ Marina Litvinenko said.

Tory MPs confirmed that discussions were under way with ministers about making ‘‘Magnitsky amendments’’ to the sanctions bill. The name comes from US legislation passed in 2012 that was designed to punish Russians involved in the death in custody of the lawyer Sergei Magnitsky while he was investigating official corruption. The Times

PHOTOS: AP Investigators in gas masks move a wrapped ambulance from the South Western Ambulance Service station in Harnham, near Salisbury, England, as police and members of the armed forces probe the suspected nerve agent attack on Russian spy double agent...

Military personnel are prepared before working to remove cars from a car park in Salisbury, England, as the investigation continues into the suspected nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.