PM BLAMES RUSSIA FOR CHEMICAL ATTACK
THereSa May last night blamed russia for carrying out a chemical weapons attack in britain after a double agent and his daughter were poisoned.
Eight days after the attempted assassination left ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in a critical condition, the Prime Minister ratcheted up tensions with president Vladimir Putin by pointing the finger at Russia.
May told MPs the couple were poisoned by a “military grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia”.
Speaking in the Commons after a briefing at the National Security Council, she warned if there was no adequate explanation then the attack “amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the UK”.
She said the pair were targeted with a nerve agent in Salisbury, Wiltshire, traceable to a Russian military lab.
A police officer who was early on the scene, DS Nick Bailey, was also poisoned and left in hospital and hundreds of people who visited a nearby pub and restaurant within a 24-hour timeframe have been told to sanitise their clothes.
May confirmed suspicions that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a toxin which is part of a group of nerve agents known as “Novichok” and developed by Russia.
She said: “Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so, Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as targets for assassinations, the Government have concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.”
She added: “Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent.”
Russia’s ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office to explain and will be told Moscow must “provide complete disclosure” of its Novichok nerve gas programme to Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
The announcement is set to trigger an explosive diplomatic row that could force the expulsion of Russian diplomats from London.
May signalled it could also lead to military deployments to Eastern Europe and a joint statement of condemnation with EU allies.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn failed to grasp the mood, calling for unity. He faced shouts of “shame” from Conservative MPs when he went for party political point scoring on Russian funding of the Tory Party.
He added: “We need to continue seeking a robust dialogue with Russia on all the issues dividing our countries, both domestic and international – rather than cutting off contact and letting tensions and divisions get potentially more dangerous.”
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemned the Putin regime. She tweeted: “Cool heads required but also a firm response. Russia simply cannot be allowed to launch attacks on our streets with impunity”.
However, the Russian embassy in London accused the UK Government of playing “a very dangerous game”.
Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said: “We consider inappropriate any mention of the Russian government in the context of what happened to Sergei Skripal. We have nothing to do with the story.”