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Theresa May welcomes EU backing on Russia spy attack response At least 10 EU nations to expel Russian diplomats in spy row
(about 3 hours later)
Theresa May welcomed the decision by the European Union to wholeheartedly back the UK’s condemnation of Moscow over the Salisbury attack, as a series of leaders said they would follow the British lead and expel Russian diplomats. Russian intelligence agents and diplomats across the European Union will be expelled next week in response to the use of a nerve agent in Salisbury, described by Emmanuel Macron as an “attack on European sovereignty”.
Speaking as she departed from an EU summit in Brussels, the prime minister confirmed that fresh evidence presented to the 27 other member states had encouraged them to unanimously agree it was “highly likely Russia is responsible” over a dinner ending in the early hours of Friday. At least 10 EU member states will order Russian officials to leave, with the number of countries answering the UK’s call for action expected to rise in the coming weeks.
“It is right that we are standing together”, she said. “We have been sharing throughout, sharing on intelligence channels what we can with our colleagues. What is crucial is that there was recognition around the table about the threat that Russia poses. “They recognised and agreed with the UK Government’s assessment”. “What happened in Great Britain has clearly never been seen before,” the French president told reporters, at the end of a summit where EU leaders agreed unanimously that Moscow was “highly likely” to be responsible for the assault. “It is an aggression against the security and the sovereignty of an ally, today a member of the European Union, which demands a reaction.”
At least ten member states, including Ireland, are poised to follow the UK’s lead and expel Russian diplomats over the affair. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said she agreed there should be further measures, beyond the recall earlier on Friday of the EU’s ambassador to Moscow.
The president of Lithuania, Dalia Grybauskaiteė, said that “from the beginning of next week, a lot of countries, we will go for our national measures”. France and Germany were among the first countries to back the UK and do not expect the investigation by experts at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to change their conclusions.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said: “We are determined to react together, with the language we used here, but also possibly through additional measures.” Macron said the OPCW work would be “useful, but is not going to change our vision of things”.
The Danish prime minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said his country would consider whether it should take unilateral steps. Donald Tusk, the European council president, said the Russians had stooped to a level to which the EU could never follow, but that it was up to leaders to do what they could to illustrate Europe’s condemnation.
Boyko Borisov, the prime minister of Bulgaria, said: “We find ourselves at times worse than the cold war. During the cold war there were rules. Now I am not optimistic for the peaceful future of the world.” The former Polish prime minister conceded there were different interests and attitudes to Russia among the member states, and not all would take measures against the Kremlin, but said the bloc’s response would still be without precedent.
In response to developments at an EU summit in Brussels, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused the UK of trying to make “the crisis with Russia as deep as possible”. Tusk said: “It is very difficult to prepare an adequate reaction to this kind of behaviour like a nerve agent attack. We will never have the real chance to respond adequately because we are completely different to the perpetrators of this attack, if you know what I mean.
In London they “are feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps,”, he told reporters on a visit to Hanoi, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. “This is why I was focused yesterday on for me the most important political goal ... to keep the whole community united as possible in this very dramatic moment and situation and we reached this goal ... As a result of our decision yesterday I expect a number of member states will take additional measures against Russia on Monday. It is not the end of our actions.”
During a long dinner in Brussels on Thursday, information was shared not only from the UK security services but other member states’ intelligence services to shore up support for the UK. He added: “In these difficult circumstances I am personally especially pleased that despite the tough Brexit negotiations, the European Union has demonstrated unanimous and unequivocal unity with the UK in the face of this attack.”
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said: “We will now consider in the coming days whether we want to take individual action in relation to Russian diplomats in Ireland.” Speaking as she departed from the meeting of leaders in Brussels, Theresa May confirmed that fresh evidence presented to the 27 other member states had encouraged them to endorse the UK’s analysis of the incident earlier this month, which left the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, fighting for their lives.
The taoiseach, who alongside the French president, Emmanuel Macron, had proposed that the EU endorse the opinion of the British government on the guilt of Russia, added: “Bearing in mind what the United Kingdom did was to expel 23 diplomats that they believed were not actual diplomats, were agents. So we would have to do an assessment just like they did before that ... We will make that decision, I would say, in the early part of next week.” “We have been sharing throughout, sharing on intelligence channels what we can with our colleagues,” the prime minister said.
The EU has also recalled its ambassador from Moscow for consultations over the incident it described as “a grave challenge to our shared security”. Italy is traditionally seen as having warmer relations with Moscow than most EU countries, but the country’s Europe minister, Sandro Gozi, said there was no hesitation from Italy “once things became clearer thanks to the information we got from [the British] prime minister”.
Britain and Russia have expelled 23 of each other’s diplomats since the use of a nerve agent on a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury, which has sparked an east-west diplomatic crisis reminiscent of the cold war. He said the recall of the EU’s ambassador “does not have immediate political or economic consequences”, but he hoped would “help the Russians to have a more constructive attitude”.
May had expected to leave Brussels on Thursday night, but stayed on at the summit to discuss Donald Trump’s decision to give the EU a temporary exemption from tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The situation highlighted the “Brexit paradox” of “the growing awareness in London of the need to develop a common approach that I hope will turn into a [post-Brexit] strong partnership on security, defence and foreign affairs”, Gozi added.
Meanwhile a Court of Protection judge has given doctors permission to take blood from Sergei Skripal, the former double agent, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, and to provide samples to chemical weapons experts. Member states understood to be preparing to oust diplomats include France, Germany, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Denmark.
Mr Justice Williams said he had been asked to make decisions because the Skripals were unconscious and in critical condition. On Thursday the police officer who came to the aid of Skirpal and his daughter left hospital. In response, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, accused the UK of trying to make “the crisis with Russia as deep as possible”.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko tweeted: “Glad to know that detective sergeant Nick Bailey has been discharged from hospital. Hoping for recovery of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, too”. In London they “are feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps”, he told reporters on a visit to Hanoi, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Theresa MayTheresa May
European UnionEuropean Union
Sergei SkripalSergei Skripal
EuropeEurope
Leo VaradkarLeo Varadkar
RussiaRussia
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