3/16/2018
Prime Minister of Britain Theresa May is incensed over the attempted murder of a former Russian Spy and his daughter on British soil. “It is highly likely that Russia was responsible” for the nerve-agent attack Ms. May said.
Boris Johnson, Britain’s Foreign Secretary, went even further, stating “our quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin, and with his decision, and we think it is overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War.”
On Wednesday, PM May announced the expullsion of 23 Russian diplomats over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, and his daughter. She vowed to crack down on Russian spies, corrupt elites and ill-gotten wealth in Britain.
May’s statement to Parliament came after Moscow ignored a British deadline to explain itself over the attack. “This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom,” Mrs. May said in an address to the House of Commons. “It must therefore be met with a full and robust response.”
May said Britain would suspend all high-level contacts with Russia, and would expel 23 Russian diplomats, who were given one week to leave. She described it as the biggest expulsion in more than 30 years, harkening back to a period in which Britain and the United States together faced down the Soviet Union.
“They have treated the use of a military-grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance,” Ms. May said of Russia. “Their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events. They have provided no credible explanation.”
British authorities identified the nerve agent used in the attack as Novichok, an especially dealdy poison developed by the Russians. Novichok is eight times more deadly than the nerve agent used in the West known as VX.
