WORLD UNITES AGAINST PUTIN
Victory for May as 22 countries expel over 100 Russian diplomats
MORE than 100 Russian spies are being expelled around the world as allies yesterday stood behind Britain following the Salisbury nerve agent outrage.
Sixty “diplomats” were ordered out of the US by President Donald Trump in the first move of an international wave of punitive action against Vladimir Putin.
And 21 other countries, including 16 members of the EU, followed suit in
sending embassy officials home in history’s biggest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers.
Theresa May welcomed the “great solidarity from our friends” in standing up to President Putin’s regime.
“Together we have sent a message that we will not tolerate Russia’s continued attempts to flout international law and undermine our values,” the Prime Minister said.
“President Putin’s regime is carrying out acts of aggression against our shared values and interests within our continent and beyond.
“The United Kingdom will stand shoulder to shoulder with our allies in the European Union and Nato to face down these threats together.
“We will defend our infrastructure, our institutions and our values against attempts to undermine them. And we will act to protect our national security and to keep our people safe.”
Yesterday’s expulsions follow a 10-day diplomatic blitz by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who praised the “extraordinary international response” last night.
“Russia cannot break international rules with impunity,” he said.
Canada, Ukraine, Albania, Norway, the US, Macedonia and 16 EU nations followed Britain in acting against suspected Russian spies.
Mrs May expelled 23 “undeclared intelligence officers” last week in retaliation for the March 4 attack using a “military grade” nerve agent in Salisbury, Wilts, that left former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia critical ill.
“Sadly, late last week doctors indicated that their condition is unlikely to change in the near future and they may never recover fully,” the Prime Minister told MPs.
“This shows the utterly barbaric nature of this act – and the dangers that hundreds of innocent citizens in Salisbury could have faced.”
Mrs May said investigations had shown more than 130 people could have been potentially exposed to the Novichok nerve agent.
International leaders spoke out in support of Britain yesterday.
The White House said: “Today’s actions make the United States safer by reducing Russia’s ability to spy on Americans and conduct covert operations that threaten America’s national security.
“With these steps, the United States and our allies and partners make clear to Russia that its actions have consequences.”
European Council president Donald Tusk said “additional measures”, including further expulsions, could not be excluded and Danish prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said: “Russia has gone too far. An assassination attempt in a European city with a Russian nerve agent is completely unacceptable.”
Canada announced the expulsion of four Russian diplomats and refused entry to three more.
Foreign minister Chrystia Freeland described the Salisbury attack as a “despicable, heinous and reckless act, potentially endangering the lives of hundreds”.
Polish foreign minister Jacek Czaputowicz said: “Showing solidarity with Britain and other countries is the most important thing.”
President Putin’s government hit back last night by describing the expulsions as “a provocative gesture” and hinting at more tit-for-tat reprisals. His spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would respond to the expulsions on the “principle of reciprocity”.
Russia’s foreign ministry said: “This provocative gesture of notorious solidarity with London by countries that preferred to follow in London’s footsteps without bothering to look into other circumstances of the incident, merely continues the policy of escalating the confrontation.”
Russia has already ordered 23 British diplomats to leave, in response to Mrs May’s expulsion of the 23 undeclared Russian intelligence officers from the UK.
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Since then his detractors have confidently predicted his downfall. Any moment, we have often been told, Trump will be impeached or will resign because of financial impropriety, because of the Russians interfering in the election, because he is clearly suffering from dementia.
But somehow these stories blaze away briefly and fade to nothing. Ronald Reagan was often known as the “Teflon President” because criticism never stuck. But he never attracted anything like the opprobrium that Trump has.
The latest scandal involves porn star Stormy Daniels. Her interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes Programme was eagerly anticipated. Ms Daniels claims she had sex with Trump, accepted hush money from Trump’s lawyer and was threatened by a man in a car park in 2011. Trump denies it all.
It’s likely that Donald Trump will again emerge unscathed. The public, both here and in the United States, are now remarkably indifferent to alleged sexual peccadillos. Many voters will probably feel that if the President did cavort with Ms Daniels then that only adds to what they regard as his rogueish appeal.