US backs UK move to expel diplomats

THE US has t hrown its diplomatic weight behind the UK as Britain braces itself for Russian retaliation after Theresa May hit back at Moscow over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

As the Kremlin made it clear it is preparing its response to the biggest expulsion of its embassy staff since the Cold War, the White House came down firmly on Britain’s side.

In a significant intervention following some concern over the stance of US President Donald Trump, the White House stated: “The United States shares the United Kingdom’s assessment that Russia is responsible for the reckless nerve agent attack on a British citizen and his daughter, and we support the United Kingdom’s decision to expel Russian diplomats as a just response.

“This latest action by Russia fits into a pattern of behaviour in which Russia disregards the international rules-based order, undermines the sovereignty and security of countries worldwide, and attempts to subvert and discredit Western democratic institutions and processes.”

A showdown meeting at the UN Security Council saw Britain call on the international chemical weapons watchdog to verify its findings that Moscow is behind the Salisbury incident.

In heated exchanges, Russia strongly denied it was involved.

Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian permanent representative to the UN, said: “We demand that material proof be provided of the allegedly found Russian trace in this high-resonance event.

“Without this, stating that there is incontrovertible truth is not something that we can take into account.”

Announcing sanctions in the House of Commons, the prime minister said the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia amounted to “an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom”.

The 23 Russian diplomats identified as undeclared intelligence officers have been given a week to leave, in the largest mass expulsion since 31 were ordered out in 1985 following the defection of double agent Oleg Gordievsky.

Mrs May said that high-level contact with Russia would be suspended.

And she added that Russian state assets would be frozen “wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents”.

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The scene of the attack.