Scores of Russians expelled as allies back UK

18 nations in show of support after attack

SCORES OF Russian spies are facing expulsion from Western capitals as the UK’s allies rallied in an unprecedented show of support for Britain over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Prime Minister Theresa May announced more than 100 spies were being sent home from 18 nations in the “largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history”.

They include 60 spies being ejected from the United States of America as well as intelligence officers operating in Canada, Ukraine, Albania and 14 European Union member states.

The co-ordinated move drew a furious response from Moscow, which accused Western allies of “blindly following the principle of the Euro-Atlantic unity to the detriment of common sense, the norms of civilised inter-state dialogue and the principles of international law”.

Mrs May told MPs yesterday that the move underlined the unity of the West in the face of Russia’s deployment of a nerve agent on British soil.

“Together we have sent a message that we will not tolerate Russia’s continued attempts to flout international law and undermine our values,” she said. “President Putin’s regime is carrying out acts of aggression against our shared values and interests within our continent and beyond. As a sovereign European democracy, the United Kingdom will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and with Nato to face down these threats together.”

In Moscow, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov hinted the Kremlin would respond with tit-for-tat expulsions, saying Russia would proceed from the “principle of reciprocity”.

Russia has already ordered 23 British diplomats to leave in response to the expulsion of a similar number of undeclared Russian intelligence officers from the UK.

The Russian foreign ministry said: “This provocative gesture of notorious solidarity with London, made by countries that preferred to follow in London’s footsteps without bothering to look into other circumstances of the incident, merely continues the policy of escalating the confrontation.”

The co-ordinated move came after EU leaders last week backed Mrs May’s assertion that there was “no plausible alternative explanation” other than Russia was responsible for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The European Council’s President Donald Tusk said “additional measures” – including further expulsions – could not be excluded in the coming weeks. The EU member states taking action include Germany, France, Poland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Romania and Croatia.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said: “Russia has gone too far. An assassination attempt in a European city with a Russian nerve agent is completely unacceptable.”