EXPLAIN YOURSELF, MR PUTIN –OR WE’LL HIT BACK
As PM accuses Russia of ‘brazen murder attempt’ on our soil and ministers plan retaliation within 24 hours . . .
THERESA May accused Russia yesterday of a ‘brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil’. In an extraordinary Commons statement, the Prime Minister revealed that the Salisbury attack involved the use of a russian nerve agent developed during the Cold War. Mrs May gave vladimir Putin until midnight tonight to explain how the deadly chemical weapon, which was manufactured only in russia, came to be deployed in a British city.
She warned that failure to offer an alternative explanation would force Britain to conclude that the attack was ‘an unlawful use of force by the russian state against the Uk.’ Mrs May will reconvene the National Security Council tomorrow to consider a retaliatory package against Moscow, if the russian regime fails to respond satisfactorily. Boris Johnson summoned the
Russian ambassador for a dressing-down yesterday after intelligence agencies identified a clear link between Moscow and last week’s attempted murder of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.
The Foreign Secretary refused to even shake the ambassador’s hand.
Ministers are looking at a package of fresh sanctions targeting Putin’s cronies and Russia’s ailing economy. Russian diplomats face expulsion and oligarchs linked to the Putin regime could have assets frozen.
Mrs May is also facing pressure to look again at England’s participation in this summer’s World Cup, which Mr Putin hopes to exploit for propaganda purposes.
The UK’s former national security adviser, Lord Ricketts, said a boycott of the event by the West was one of the few ways to make Moscow ‘sit up and take notice’. Former defence minister Andrew Murrison said it would be ‘inconceivable’ to have anything to do with Russia ‘if they are behind this filthy aggression’. The call came as:
Jeremy Corbyn was branded a ‘disgrace’ after using a Commons statement on the attack to score party political points;
Mrs May disclosed that the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack came from the ‘Novichok’ family of chemical weapons developed by Russia and said to be ten times more deadly than VX;
Defence sources said the UK’s response could even include a cyber-attack designed to cripple Russian propaganda operations;
The Russian scientist who first exposed the secret Novichok chemical weapons programme spoke of its ‘horror’;
Chemical warfare experts locked down a Wiltshire village amid fears Mr Skripal’s car could have traces of the nerve agent;
A masked woman seen acting suspiciously in Salisbury before the attack was reported to police;
Nato and the White House both indicated they would stand with Britain as it considers reprisals against the Putin regime, as senior ministers began talks with their counterparts;
US General Philip Breedlove, Nato’s former supreme commander in Europe, said there would be a ‘price paid’ by Moscow for the attack.
Critics have likened the Russian World Cup to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which were exploited by Adolf Hitler to promote Nazi propaganda.
Mrs May told MPs there could be ‘no business as usual with Russia’ in the wake of the attack. But in the Commons she suggested sporting retaliation would be limited to a boycott by officials and dignitaries.
Downing Street said the England team’s participation in the World Cup was ‘not a matter for us’. But pressure was mounting last night for the Government to ask England’s Football Association to pull out.
Lord Ricketts said a co-ordinated boycott by Western teams could have a real impact, adding: ‘We need to make the guys in the Kremlin sit up and take notice.’
Mr Murrison added: ‘Strong pressure should be put by the Government on our national team not to engage with Russia during the World Cup.’
And Tom Tugendhat, Tory chairman of the Commons foreign affairs committee, warned: ‘I’m afraid the danger of Russia responding to British fans for the actions of their Government is all too real.’
Addressing MPs, Mrs May said that based on the positive identification of the chemical agent by experts at Porton Down, the knowledge that Russia had previously produced this agent, Russia’s record of conducting ‘state-sponsored assassinations’ and Russia’s view of ‘some defectors as legitimate targets’, it was ‘highly likely’ that Russia was responsible.
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 and allowed it to get into the hands of others.’
Mrs May concluded: ‘We will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.’
Russia has denied all responsibility for the attempted murder of a former spy branded a ‘traitor’ by president Putin.
Moscow described Mrs May’s response as ‘a circus’.
Whitehall sources said Britain was working with Nato and EU allies on a package of sanctions against Russia.
The White House broke a week-long silence on the affair to declare Donald Trump would ‘stand by’ Mrs May.
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: ‘The use of any nerve agent is horrendous and completely unacceptable. Nato is in touch with the UK authorities.’