The Salisbury poisoning
Theresa May announced a series of retaliatory measures against Russia on Wednesday, after Moscow ignored her deadline to explain how a Soviet-era nerve agent came to be used against a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Salisbury last week. Experts believe Sergei and Yulia Skripal, who remain critically ill, were poisoned with Novichok, an advanced weapon developed by the Russian military during the Cold War. May told MPS that only two conclusions could be drawn from that: either Moscow sponsored a direct attack on the UK or it has lost control of its chemical weapons stocks.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the poisoning marked the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War, and promised a “commensurate but robust” response. European allies expressed solidarity with the UK, as did America’s outgoing Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson. But Russia, which is due to hold its presidential election on Sunday, denied any role in the poisoning and accused the UK of whipping up anti-russia hysteria ( see page 24).
What the editorials said
Vladimir Putin may or may not be personally linked to the Salisbury poisoning, said The Times. But he certainly has a “record as a serial violator of diplomatic norms and international laws”. His regime rigs elections, connives in the murder of journalists and “unilaterally alters the boundaries of Europe by force”. So it would be quite capable of this latest act. Russia seems to be “acting ever more like a rogue state”, said the FT. It will have been “emboldened” by the UK’S feeble reaction to the 2006 killing of Alexander Litvinenko with radioactive polonium. May is partly to blame for that: as home secretary, she delayed a public inquiry into Litvinenko’s murder for years; it only reported in 2016. May hasn’t minced her words about this poisoning, though, said The Daily Telegraph. “To accuse the Russian state of unlawful use of force against the UK using chemical weapons is about as serious an accusation as can be levelled, short of a declaration of war.” It ups the ante considerably, putting the UK “on course for what is possibly its biggest foreign policy crisis since the Falklands”. “May can and must stand up to Russia’s bullying regime,” said The Guardian. “She must hope that the UK’S European allies are minded to stand with her.”