COLD WARNING
Putin vows revenge as UK and Russian relations hit freezing point
VLADIMIR Putin yesterday threatened revenge after Theresa May expelled 23 Russian spooks.
The Prime Minister unveiled tough measures against Moscow for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.
Putin branded the expulsions a “provocation”.
23 Russian spooks to be kicked out of UK in mass expulsion
THERESA May yesterday hit back at Vladimir Putin as the spy poison scandal threatened to erupt into a new Cold War.
The Prime Minister ordered 23 Russian spooks to be booted out of Britain in the biggest mass expulsion in more than 30 years.
She also unveiled tough new checks on all flights and goods from Moscow and banned all visits to the UK by Russian ministers.
May announced assets belonging to Putin’s government will be frozen to stop them being used for wrongdoing.
And she revealed suspected Russian spies would be detained at Britain’s borders like terrorists under new powers. She also confirmed that no ministers or members of the Royal Family will attend this summer’s World Cup in Russia.
May said Moscow had shown “sarcasm, contempt and defiance” in the aftermath of a bid to kill ex-MI6 agent Sergei Skripal.
The PM described the nerve agent poisoning of Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, Wiltshire, last week as “the unlawful use of force by Russia against the United Kingdom”.
May told MPs that Russia had provided “no explanation” as to how the nerve agent came to be used in the UK.
The PM added: “There is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian state was culpable for the attempted murders.”
Putin’s officials described Britain’s tough response as “provocation”, saying it was “unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted”.
The Russian Embassy in London tweeted that any punitive action “will meet with a response”, adding: “The British side should be aware of that.”
The embassy also tweeted: “The temperature of Russia-UK relations drops to minus 23, but we are not afraid of cold weather.”
Russia’s ambassador in London was hauled into the Foreign Office and handed a list of the diplomats who have been given a week to leave.
May said they had been identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”.
Russia continued to deny poisoning Skripal.
Its foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow would take “fitting, symmetrical measures that are completely appropriate”.
In a live show on state TV, she
Moscow vows to hit back and calls UK ‘fully fledged liars’ There is no alternative conclusion other than that the
described the UK as “fully-fledged liars”.
The Kremlin currently has 58 diplomats based in London.
Professor Malcolm Chalmers, director general of the Royal United Services Institute think-tank, said: “The expulsion of 23 diplomats is a very significant number. Everyone expects reciprocal action.”
Britain expects Moscow to expel a similar number of UK officials.
Senior Government sources said further retaliation could be unleashed if Russia responds in a “disproportionate” way to the expulsion of its diplomats.
It could include kicking out another tranche of Russian diplomats such as declared intelligence officers. The ambassador could also be expelled.
Britain was last night beefing up cyber defences in preparation for any retaliation attack.
Experts are examining the defences of potential targets for a Kremlin assault on Britain’s cyber infrastructure.
It is also thought protections for communications and internet cables, which lie on the seabed and have been monitored by Russian surveillance ships, are being reinforced.
While May’s tough stance went down well in the Commons, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn came under fire for failing to condemn the Kremlin directly for the poisonings. Corbyn also called for “strong diplomacy and political pressure” as part of an international effort to “secure a world free of chemical weapons”.
When he complained about cuts to the diplomatic service and demanded to know if Russian requests for a sample of the nerve agent had been met, he was met by jeers from Tory benches and groans of despair from his own.
Corbyn asked: “Does the PM agree it is essential to maintain a robust dialogue with Russia?”
May replied: “This is not a question of our diplomacy, this is a question of the culpability of the Russian state for an act on our soil.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford was cheered when he said there had to be “a robust response to the use of terror on our streets”.
Blackford added: “We must act in a measured way to show we will not tolerate this behaviour. In this regard, I welcome and associate these benches with the measures contained in the statement.
“The only right response today is a robust one from all of us.”
At a meeting of the UN Security Council, the US ambassador Nikki Haley said America believes Russia is responsible for the poisonings and “stands in absolute solidarity with Great Britain”.