Theresa May has announced a raft of plans aimed at Moscow in retaliation to the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats within a week.
In a dramatic statement to the House of Commons, the PM said Russia had responded to her demands for an explanation of events in Salisbury with “sarcasm, contempt and defiance”.
She said Russia had failed to provide any “credible” explanation of events and of why it has “an undeclared chemical weapons programme in contravention of international law”.
Mrs May said the government would “urgently develop proposals” for new legislative powers to “harden our defences against all forms of hostile state activity”.
She said the UK would:
- expel 23 diplomats, giving them one week to leave the country
- create new powers to detain those suspected of hostile state activity at the UK border.
- ask the Home Secretary to look at new counter-espionage powers to “clamp down on the full spectrum of hostile activities of foreign agents in our country”.
- take immediate actions to dismantle the Russian espionage network in the UK
- increased checks on private flights, customs and freight traffic to track those visiting the country
- freeze Russian state assets wherever there is evidence they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents
- continue to bring all the capabilities of UK law enforcement to bear against serious criminals and corrupt elites
The Prime Minister also said that the UK was suspending high-level contacts with Russia and that dignitaries, including members of the royal family, will not attend this summer’s World Cup.
Russia fired back at the actions, with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has describing Mrs May’s statement as “an unprecedentedly crude provocation that undermines the foundations of a normal interstate dialogue between our countries”.
A statement from Moscow said: “We consider it categorically unacceptable and unworthy that the British Government, in its unseemly political aims, further seriously aggravated relations, announcing a whole set of hostile measures, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the country.”
The midnight deadline set by Mrs May for Russia to provide an explanation over the poisoning of Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia passed without a response being offered by Moscow.
The UK Government has concluded it is ‘highly likely’ Russia was responsible for the attack which left ex-spy Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia in a critical condition in hospital.
Coupled with the measures she announced in Parliament, according to The Independent, Mrs May is also reportedly preparing a raft of economic measures that include asset freezes and seizures.
A Government minister told the paper: ‘What happens will be an economic war, these will be economic measures.
‘Russia’s economy is only half that of the UK, a lot of it concentrated in a few people’s hands. Well, we’ll do our bit to make it smaller if they want to carry on like this.’
Mrs May chaired a Cobra meeting this morning to discuss developments in the case ahead of her statement to the House of Commons.
In a fresh sign of the escalating diplomatic tension sparked by the case, the Russian embassy in the UK on Tuesday evening fired off a salvo of tweets warning the threat of sanctions would ‘meet with a response’.
The Embassy said: ‘Moscow will not respond to London’s ultimatum until it receives samples of the chemical substance to which the UK investigators are referring.
‘The incident appears to be yet another crooked attempt by the UK authorities to discredit Russia.’
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