U.K. premier expels 23 Russian diplomats

May vows ‘robust response’ to poisoning

LONDON — Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats Wednesday over the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil, raising tensions between the two countries to a level not seen since the heights of the Cold War.

She vowed to crack down on Russian spies, corrupt elites and ill-gotten wealth in Britain.

Her statement to Parliament came after Moscow rejected a British deadline for Russia to explain itself over this month’s attack on the former spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter.

The two countries have engaged in a worsening clash in recent days, with Britain widening an investigation into the incident and courting friends and allies to increase pressure on Russia, while Moscow has threatened to retaliate over any punitive action.

The remarks from the British prime minister were a marked departure from the norm for a leader who has faced a litany of domestic and international issues. May’s government is consumed with Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, a complex negotiation that it appears to be struggling with. And its closest international ally, the United States, is led by a president who has

appeared reluctant to openly criticize Russia.

“This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom,” May said in an address to the House of Commons. “It must therefore be met with a full and robust response.”

She said Britain would suspend all high-level contacts with Russia and expel 23 Russian diplomats, who were given one week to leave. She described it as the biggest expulsion in more than 30 years, hearkening to a period in which Britain and the United States faced off against the Soviet Union.

The prime minister also said the government had agreed on new powers to crack down on the activities of foreign intelligence agents in Britain, that there was no place for “serious criminals and corrupt elites” in the country, and that an invitation for Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia to visit had been withdrawn.

She added that no British ministers or royals would attend the World Cup in Russia this summer, that Britain would “increase checks on

private flights, customs and freight,” and that it would “freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of U.K. nationals or residents.”

“They have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance,” May said of Russia. “Their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. They have provided no credible explanation.”

Since Monday, when May said that “it is highly likely that Russia was responsible” for the nerve-agent attack on Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England, this month, President Vladimir Putin’s government has made a series of statements denying any involvement and threatening dire consequences for Britain if it acts against Russia.

On Wednesday, the Russian Embassy in London said the British “hostile action” was “totally unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted.”

Moscow has demanded that it be part of a joint investigation into the attack on the Skripals, along with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and that Britain turn over a sample of

the nerve agent — which May has refused.

May identified the chemical as a Novichok, a class of extremely deadly nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. Britain was sending samples of the toxin to the chemical weapons organization for verification, the British prime minister said Wednesday.

The country has tried to marshal support from international organizations, an effort potentially complicated by Britain’s impending exit from the European Union, disputes within NATO, and the reluctance of President Donald Trump to denounce Putin. Despite those tensions, several of Britain’s European allies have been quick to express solidarity over the attack on the Skripals, who remain hospitalized

in critical condition.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that he stood with May on what he called a “brutal attack inspired, most likely, by Moscow,” and said he was prepared to put the matter on the agenda for the council’s meeting next week.

But Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labor Party, drew ire from lawmakers — even from within his party — for casting doubt on Russian government involvement in the attack. After May spoke before Parliament, Corbyn stood up to “echo” her words of support for emergency services in the aftermath of the attack — but failed to back her condemnation of Russia.

Corbyn suggested nothing was yet proven, and asked May if it was possible that Russia

lost control of the nerve agent rather than deploying it itself. His request to know how she responded to a Russian demand for a sample so they could carry out their own tests sparked howls of disapproval from lawmakers.

Corbyn’s spokesman later told reporters that his record on international crises is bettered by no lawmaker in Parliament. He said the U.K. has a history of intelligence mistakes, including on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and called for the government to act only on the basis of evidence.

In Washington, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday that the U. S. “shares the United Kingdom’s assessment that Russia is responsible” for the attack.

Separately, Britain called

for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council to discuss the attack and delivered a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva decrying Russian aggression in Ukraine and Georgia, the country’s involvement in the Syrian civil war, and civil-rights abuses within Russia, as well as the nerve agent attack.

Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was imprisoned in 2006 for selling secrets to the British. In 2010, he was sent to Britain as part of a spy swap. He and his daughter were found unresponsive on a park bench in the cathedral city of Salisbury on March 4.