Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The WORLDPRESSURE vs Russia
US, Germany and France back UK over Salisbury poisoning Nerve agent attack ‘assault on sovereignty and threat to security’
piled on Russia over the Salisbury spy attack as world leaders stood together in a joint fightback over the assassination plot on UK soil.
US president Donald Trump, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel joined Theresa May to condemn the Kremlin over the Novichok nerve agent poisoning.
They agreed Moscow was to blame and ramped up calls for Vladimir Putin to “provide full and complete disclosure” of Russia’s Novichok programme.
They said in a joint statement: “This use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, constitutes the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War.
“It is an assault on the UK’S sovereignty and any such use by a state party is a clear violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and a breach of international law. It threatens the security of us all.”
Trump added: “It certainly looks like the Russians were behind it.”
The Prime Minister later said: “This happened in the UK, but it could have happened anywhere and we are taking a united stance against it.”
Russia warned it would kick out British officials in retaliation for the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats from our shores after Russia failed to come clean over Novichok.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was “absolutely” preparing a response and dismissed the UK’S “boorish and unacceptable” blaming of Russia.
Boris Johnson said Putin “feels the ghost of Stalin” and is angry at Britain standing up against his bid to rebuild Russia in