RUSSIA: WE’LL AVENGE MAY PURGE
Warning after PM kicks out 23 spies in biggest reprisal since Cold War
MOSCOW vowed revenge against Britain last night after Theresa May ordered the biggest purge of Russian spies since the Cold War.
In a barely-veiled threat, the Kremlin said its response to what it described as a ‘hostile’ package of measures announced by the Prime Minister ‘would not be long in coming’.
But last night the US vowed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the UK in its response to Russian involvement in the Salisbury attack.
Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, said: ‘If we don’t take immediate concrete measures to address this now, Salisbury will not be the last place we see chemical weapons used. They could be used here in New York, or in cities of any country that sits on this council. This is a defining moment.’
Britain’s deputy UN ambassador Jonathan Allen accused Russia of deploying ‘a weapon so horrific it is banned from use in war’.
In a forceful statement to MPs yesterday, Mrs May said the Kremlin would be made to pay for its role in the Salisbury attack.
She confirmed that Moscow had failed to meet a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to explain how the Russian-produced military nerve agent Novichok came to be used in the attempt to murder former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
She said Russia had ‘treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance’. She added: ‘There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murder.’
The PM outlined a series of tough sanctions, including the expulsion of 23 suspected spies posing as diplomats as well as the threat of financial sanctions against Russian oligarchs and cronies of Vladimir Putin with assets in London.
The expulsion of diplomats is the biggest since 1985 and is designed to ‘fundamentally degrade Russian intelligence capability in the UK for years to come’.
High-level diplomatic relations will be scrapped, with an invitation to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to visit the UK revoked.
Mrs May also suggested that covert reprisals would be undertaken – in an apparent hint at cyber attacks aimed at damaging the Russian state’s propaganda machine.
British sources said Mrs May was willing to unveil even tougher sanctions if the Kremlin hit back.
A senior government official said: ‘We are responding in a way that is robust, it gives us the ability to respond if the Russians escalate but it is also in line with the rule of law, all of which is in stark contrast to the way the Russian state has behaved both in this instance and wider areas of policy. Further options remain on the table.’ The official said that if the measures fail to produce ‘a change in behaviour from the Kremlin... we will look again.’
But last night Moscow warned that the UK would face reprisals for the ‘groundless anti-Russian campaign’. The Prime Minister told MPs that the UK ‘does not stand alone in confronting Russian aggression’, with messages of support already received from key allies such as the US, France, Germany and Nato.
She added: ‘ This was not just an act of attempted murder in Salisbury, nor just an act against the UK. It is an affront to the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons, and it is an affront to the rules-based system on which we and our international partners depend.’
Veteran Tory MP Kenneth Clarke said the ‘bizarre and dreadful’ use of a nerve agent appeared to be ‘ a deliberate choice by the Russian government to put their signature on a particular killing so that other defectors are left in no doubt that it is the Russian government’.
Mrs May confirmed that Prince William and Prince Harry will join ministers in boycotting this summer’s football World Cup in Russia but Government sources say that, although she called on the FA ‘ to consider their position’, she will not order the England team to withdraw as there is no sign that other countries would join a walkout.
Labour MP Stephen Kinnock said: ‘The Russia World Cup risks vindicating the Putin regime. We should look at postponing the World Cup and hosting in another country.’
Revised Foreign Office travel advice for Russia issued yesterday warned of an upsurge in ‘anti-British sentiment or harassment’ in a country plagued by violent football hooliganism. A Whitehall source said the estimated 2,000 fans who have bought tickets were likely to be issued with ‘very robust’ travel advice.
‘Sarcasm and defiance’