British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Monday it was \u201chighly likely\u201d that Moscow was responsible for the poisoning in England of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter using a military-grade nerve agent.<\/p>\n
May told parliament that either the Russian state was directly responsible for the poisoning or it had allowed the nerve agent to get into the hands of others. London has given Russia until the end of Tuesday to explain its use.<\/p>\n
British officials had identified the substance as being part of the Novichok group of nerve agents that were developed by the Soviet military during the 1970s and 1980s, May said.<\/p>\n
Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, have been in hospital in critical condition since being found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the city of Salisbury on March 4.<\/p>\n
\u201cShould there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom,\u201d she said, calling the attack a \u201creckless and despicable act\u201d.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s foreign ministry hit back immediately, saying May\u2019s comments were a \u201ccircus show\u201d and part of a political information campaign against Russia.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States had \u201cfull confidence\u201d in Britain\u2019s assessment that Russia was likely responsible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe agree that those responsible \u2013 both those who committed the crime and those who ordered it \u2013 must face appropriately serious consequences,\u201d Tillerson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the United States stood by America\u2019s \u201cclosest ally,\u201d but she stopped short of blaming Russia for the attack.<\/p>\n
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of any nerve agent was \u201chorrendous and completely unacceptable\u201d and \u201cthis incident is of great concern to NATO\u201d.<\/p>\n
Relations between Britain and Russia have been strained since the murder in London of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.<\/p>\n
On Monday, May said the latest poisoning took place \u201cagainst a backdrop of a well-established pattern of Russian state aggression\u201d and that Britain was ready to take \u201cmuch more extensive measures\u201d against Russia than in the past.<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s ambassador to London has been summoned to explain to British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson how the nerve agent came to have been used.<\/p>\n
Novichok agents are believed to be five to 10 times more lethal than the more commonly known VX and Sarin gases. They cause a slowing of the heart and restriction of the airways, leading to death by asphyxiation, University of Reading pharmacology professor Gary Stephens said.
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin brushed off a question about the affair while visiting a grain centre in southern Russia, saying British authorities should first \u201cget to the bottom of things\u201d, the BBC\u2019s Moscow correspondent wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n
Russian state TV accused Britain of poisoning Skripal as part of a special operation designed to spoil Russia\u2019s hosting of soccer\u2019s World Cup this summer.<\/p>\n
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Skripal worked for British intelligence and the attack happened in Britain so it was not a matter for the Russian government.<\/p>\n
A British policeman who was one of the first to attend to the stricken spy was also affected by the nerve agent. He is now conscious in serious but stable condition, police said.<\/p>\n
Skripal is a former colonel in Russia\u2019s GRU military intelligence who was convicted of passing secrets to Britain\u2019s MI6 intelligence agency and later exchanged in a spy swap.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the British parliament\u2019s foreign affairs committee, Tom Tugendhat, said Russia\u2019s so-called oligarchs, who have amassed fortunes during Putin\u2019s 18-year rule, should be denied entry to the luxuries of London and the West.<\/p>\n
The British capital has been dubbed \u201cLondongrad\u201d due to the large quantities of Russian money that have poured in since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.<\/p>\n
May said last year that Putin was seeking to undermine the West and the international order by meddling in elections, and promised to ensure corrupt money did not flow into Britain from Russia.<\/p>\n
A British public inquiry found the 2006 killing of Litvinenko had probably been approved by Putin and carried out by two Russians, Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy \u2013 a former KGB bodyguard who later became a member of the Russian parliament.<\/p>\n
Cordons remained in place in the centre of Salisbury and some police investigators wore full chemical and biological suits. The army was later deployed to help remove items from the scene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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