Russia blamed

Britain issues deadline over substance used against ex-spy

Prime Minister Theresa May implicates Moscow in the assassination attempt of former spy on British soil.

LONDON: President Vladimir Putin faces a midnight deadline to explain to Britain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used to strike down a former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence.

Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in a critical condition since March 4 when they were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the southern English cathedral city of Salisbury.

Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “highly likely” Moscow was to blame for the attack after British officials identified the substance as being part of the Novichok group of nerve agents which were developed by the Soviet military during the 1970s and 1980s.

May gave Putin, who faces a presidential election on March 18, until end of Tuesday to explain what happened or face what she said were ”much more extensive” measures against the Russian economy.

“It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” May said.

“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.”

The Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, was summoned to the Foreign Office to provide an explanation.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States had ”full confidence” in Britain’s assessment that Russia was likely responsible.

May spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, who Downing Street said condemned the attack and offered his solidarity with Britain.

Russia, which has denied any role in the attack on Skripal and his daughter, said May’s allegations were a politically motivated circus act.

“It is a circus show in the British parliament,” the TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova as saying.