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Russian spy poisoning: Boris Johnson urges allies to rally behind UK Spy poisoning: Russia's smug response shows their guilt, says Boris Johnson
(35 minutes later)
Boris Johnson has urged Britain’s allies to support its stance against Russia as the UK braced for retaliation after expelling Kremlin diplomats en masse. Boris Johnson has stepped up Britain’s war of words with Russia by accusing the Kremlin of glorying in the poisoning of the double agent Sergei Skripal.
The foreign secretary said “all responsible nations” shared an obligation to take on Russian aggression, which he said “threatens the very architecture of global security”. The foreign secretary said Russia had deliberately chosen the Soviet era nerve agent novichok in the Salisbury attack as a warning to opponents of Vladimir Putin.
Employing deliberately Churchillian language in an opinion piece for the Washington Post, he said: “A tranquil medieval city has witnessed the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.” Speaking to BBC News he said: “Russia is the only country known to have developed this type of agent. I’m afraid the evidence is overwhelming that it is Russia.”
Johnson’s comments came after the US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, gave unambiguous support to the UK at the security council. Commenting on Russia’s dismissal of the accusation, Johnson added: “There is something in the kind of smug, sarcastic response that we’ve heard that indicates their fundamental guilt. They want to simultaneously deny it, yet at the same time to glory in it.”
She said: “Let me make one thing clear from the very beginning: the United States stands in absolute solidarity with Great Britain. The United States believes that Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent.” He also suggested that Putin had some responsibility for the attack. “There is very little doubt in people’s minds that this is a signature act by the Russia state – deliberately using novichok, a nerve agent developed by Russia to punish a Russian defector as they would see it, and in the run up to Vladimir Putin’s election.
Johnson told BBC News that he was “heartened” by the US response, and claimed there was “global disgust” at Russia’s actions. “This was a former Russian agent living in this country who had been singled out already by the Russian state as an object for revenge and retaliation, and Vladimir Putin has been on the TV only recently saying that such people deserve to be poisoned, to choke on their own 30 pieces of silver. This is a way of showing look at what happens to people who stand up to our regime.”
He also confirmed that the UK would be submitting a sample of the novichok nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Johnson said he had been “very heartened” by the strength of the support around the world for Britain’s stance against Russia.
In his article Johnson said the poison used was specifically chosen to send a message to political dissenters challenging the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, gave unambiguous support to the UK at the security council. But a spokesman for the French president, Emmanuel Macron, cautioned the UK not to engage in “fantasy politics”.
“The countermeasures announced by the prime minister are not solely about the attack in Salisbury. Pressed repeatedly on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about French scepticism about the UK’s claims, Johnson said Theresa May would be speaking to Macron later on Thursday.
“Britain is striving to uphold the rules on which the safety of every country depends. I hope and believe that our friends will stand alongside us.” “President Macron has issued a very strong statement of condemnation,” he said adding that French government spokesmen had issued varying statements on the incident.
Johnson said the Salisbury incident showed the Kremlin was “clearly willing to act without restraint” and fitted a pattern of “reckless behaviour” by Putin. Johnson also confirmed that the UK would provide samples of the nerve agent used in the attack to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Meanwhile he said the use of novichok, a rare chemical weapon developed by the Soviet Union, had been picked because it sent a signal with its “blatant Russian-ness”. He said: “We will be submitted a sample so that they can look at the novichok and make their own assessment. We believe the evidence is absolutely overwhelming.”
Johnson said that only Russia had the means and motive for carrying out the assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal that left the spy, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey in hospital. And he defended the UK’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats, arguing that it would “degrade their intelligence capabilities in this country for decades to come”.
Johnson’s comments come after he employed deliberately Churchillian language in an opinion piece for the Washington Post, writing: “A tranquil medieval city has witnessed the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II.”
He added: “Britain is striving to uphold the rules on which the safety of every country depends. I hope and believe that our friends will stand alongside us.”
Johnson said that only Russia had the means and motive for carrying out the assassination attempt on Skripal, which left the spy, his daughter Yulia and police officer Nick Bailey in hospital.
He said: “There is a reason for choosing novichok. In its blatant Russian-ness, the nerve agent sends a signal to all who may be thinking of dissent in the intensifying repression of Putin’s Russia.He said: “There is a reason for choosing novichok. In its blatant Russian-ness, the nerve agent sends a signal to all who may be thinking of dissent in the intensifying repression of Putin’s Russia.
“The message is clear: we will find you, we will catch you, we will kill you – and though we will deny it with lip-curling scorn, the world will know beyond doubt that Russia did it.”“The message is clear: we will find you, we will catch you, we will kill you – and though we will deny it with lip-curling scorn, the world will know beyond doubt that Russia did it.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Britain of refusing to cooperate with Moscow in the investigation of the incident.
Zakharova, who said Moscow was concerned about the use of chemical weapons in Britain, said allegations that Russia was involved were “insane”.
Sergei SkripalSergei Skripal
Foreign policyForeign policy
Boris JohnsonBoris Johnson
RussiaRussia
EuropeEurope
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