Brits expel Russians in reaction to poisoning
LONDON — Few world leaders have looked weaker lately than Theresa May, the British prime minister. Yet in Parliament on Wednesday, she vowed to stand tough in the escalating confrontation with Russia over the use of a nerve agent to poison one of its former spies on British soil.
In language reminiscent of the Cold War, May — until recently accused at home of not being hard enough on Moscow — expelled 23 Russians she said were spies, promised a crackdown on corrupt Russians and the money they funnel into Britain and called off high-level contacts between the two governments.
Later in the day, Britain accused Russia of violating the Chemical Weapons Convention by failing to declare the military-grade nerve agent Novichok, which it says was used to poison an ex-Russian agent.
Suddenly, May is the mostforceful Western leader in denouncing the government of President Vladimir Putin, which she portrayed this week as a malevolent and lawless force.
Her decision, which she described as the biggest expulsion of Russian diplomats in more than 30 years, makes for a particularly sharp contrast with President Donald Trump, who has been notably reluctant to criticize Putin and is dogged by accusations that the Kremlin tried to help him in the 2016 election.
But it was not clear how strongly allies would rally to May’s side, and experts said that behind her tough talk lay relatively mild measures, the headline-grabbing expulsion aside.
Experts have described a number of tougher measures Britain could take, such as seizing any assets of questionable provenance belonging to Russians who have invested and settled in the country, changing laws