Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
YOU’VE GOT 24 HOURS TO COME CLEAN
May’s ultimatum to Vlad as nerve agent identified Trump supports Britain over assassination storm
RUSSIA has been warned it has 24 hours to come clean over the Salisbury attack – or face the consequences.
The Prime Minister said it was “highly likely” Moscow directed the “reckless” bid to assassinate former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on British soil.
Without a “credible response” by tonight, Theresa May said she would conclude there was an “unlawful use of force” by President Vladimir Putin’s regime and would respond with a “full range” of “robust” measures.
The US said it would “stand by” the UK and was ready to offer help. Mrs May told MPS the poison used was Novichok, a nerve agent “of a type developed by Russia”.
Russia was given until midnight to give “full and complete disclosure” of its Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson summoned Russia’s ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, to the Foreign Office yesterday to issue the ultimatum.
In the Commons yesterday Mrs May said: “On Wednesday we will consider in detail the response from the Russian state.
“Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom, and I will come back to this House and set out the full range of measures that we will take in response.
“This attempted murder using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town was not just a crime against the Skripals.
“It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk.
“And we will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil.”
Measures being considered included the expulsion of diplomats, fresh financial curbs on Russians, and new military deployments to Eastern Europe, Whitehall sources said.
Mrs May was briefed by MI5 and MI6 bosses yesterday before addressing the Commons.
She told MPS: “It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a militarygrade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia.”
Russia dismissed her Commons statement as a “fairytale”.
Asked if Russia was to blame, Mr Putin said: “Get to the bottom of things there, then we’ll discuss this.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Mrs May’s statement was “a circus show”.
She warned Britain was playing a “dangerous game” with “long-