Brits, U.S. push Russians on ex-spy murder attempt
The U.K. and U.S. are pressuring Russia to fess up to its alleged role in the near deadly use of a nerve agent on a former spy in southern England, warning that the undeterred use of internationally banned chemical weapons could lead to an increase in their use.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Russia must come clean about its chemical weapons program and needs to fully cooperate in the U.K.’s investigation into the March 4 attack on Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence officer convicted of spying for the U.K., and his daughter, Yulia.
“We take no pleasure in having to constantly criticize Russia, but we need Russia to stop giving us so many reasons to do so,” Haley told the United Nations Security Council. “If we don’t take immediate, concrete measures to address this now, Salisbury won’t be the last place we see chemical weapons used. They could be used here in New York or in cities of any country that sits on this council.”
U.K. officials said the type of nerve agent, known as Novichok, was developed by the Soviet Union and requires a carefully controlled type of state laboratory to manufacture. Britain concluded Russia was either behind the attack or had lost control of the chemical weapon, and has invited the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to independently verify its findings.
Russia insisted its reported involvement was “nonsense,” and its Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press a suspicious lack of video evidence of the attack raises questions about the incident.
British Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the denial forcefully by expelling 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K.
British Consul General to New England Harriet Cross said Russia’s involvement in the attack is another example of the country flouting international law.
“It feels like there’s been a well-established pattern by the Russians of statesponsored assassinations and state-sponsored aggression,” Cross told the Herald. “This feels a little bit like this was a very bold assertion of that approach. It’s more of a global concern to see Russians being so bold as the contravening of the rule of law that every country abides by.”
Cross cited the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, a former KGB officer who received political asylum in the U.K., Russia’s offensive cyberattacks, and Russian President Vladmir Putin’s recent national address that featured images of warheads trained on U.S. targets.
“That’s not something we would have seen a few years back,” Cross said. “I think we are seeing a build-up of the unlawful use of force by the Russian state.”