Russia’s fury as US brings in sanctions over Skripals poison attack

RUSSIA reacted furiously yesterday to America’s decision to hit it with sanctions after concluding it was responsible for the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

While the US action was welcomed in Britain, Moscow said it was illegal. It accused the US of ‘demonising Russia’ and announced it was working on ‘retaliatory measures’.

Senior Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev accused the US of behaving like ‘a police state that extracts evidence from suspects through torture and threats’.

However, Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, thanked the US. He said nerve agents and other ‘horrific’ weapons must not become a new norm, and that ‘states like Russia that condone their use need to know there is a price to pay’.

The US announcement caused Russian stock markets to drop dramatically on opening and the rouble reached its lowest point since November 2016.

The State Department concluded Moscow broke international law by poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Its findings

‘States need to know there is a price to pay’

automatically triggered sanctions under a 1991 US law on chemical weapons.

They could cost Russia hundreds of millions of dollars in lost business and will take effect around August 22. They will apply to all state-owned and state-funded enterprises and cover sensitive technologies that can have military applications, so will affect exports of electronics, computers, lasers and oil and gas equipment.

America has threatened a harsher second set of sanctions in 90 days unless Russia provides ‘reliable assurances’ that it is no longer using chemical weapons and that it will not in the future. It must allow inspections by the UN or other international observers to verify this.

The decision, approved by Mr Trump, comes five months after the poisoning of the Skripals. Britain has shared evidence with allies, prompting the expulsion of more than 120 Russian agents working under diplomatic cover from the West, including 60 from the US.

It was reported this week that the Government is soon to submit an extradition request for two Russians suspected of carrying out the Salisbury attack.