HUNT CALLS FOR EURO-WIDE UNITY AGAINST KREMLIN AGGRESSION

JEREMY Hunt will today urge EU leaders to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with Britain and the US against the threat from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

In a speech at the start of his first visit to Washington as Foreign Secretary, he is to call for Western allies to speak with “one voice” in response to Kremlin aggression.

And he will call for Russia to be hit with more international sanctions in response to the novichok poisoning attack in Salisbury earlier this year.

“Of course we must engage with Moscow, but we must also be blunt – Russia’s foreign policy under President Putin has made the world a more dangerous place,” Mr Hunt is expected to say in his speech at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

“The United Kingdom asks its allies to go further by calling on the European Union to ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive, and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US. That means calling out and responding to transgressions with one voice whenever and wherever they occur, from the streets of Salisbury to the fate of Crimea.”

EU nations including Germany and France were among dozens of countries that expelled Russian diplomats following March’s nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

But ministers are concerned that some European leaders have been softening in their attitude towards the Kremlin as France has asked for a “hand in hand” approach.

Mr Hunt will accuse Russia of flouting international order.

“The established rules of international conduct are repeatedly being flouted by major countries like Russia,” he is expected to say. “Such aggressive malign behaviour undermines the international order that keeps us safe.”