Putin faces midnight deadline to explain
nerve attack on former spy to UK
Send a link to a friend
[March 13, 2018]
By Guy Faulconbridge
LONDON (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin
faces a midnight deadline to explain to Britain how a nerve agent
developed by the Soviet Union was used to strike down a former Russian
double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in
a critical condition since March 4 when they were found unconscious on a
bench outside a shopping center in the southern English cathedral city
of Salisbury.
Prime Minister Theresa May said it was "highly likely" Moscow was to
blame after Britain identified the substance as part of the Novichok
group of nerve agents which were developed by the Soviet military during
the 1970s and 1980s.
"It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a
military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia," May said.
"Either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country.
Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially
catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the
hands of others."
May gave Putin, who faces a presidential election on March 18, until end
of Tuesday to explain what happened or face what she said were "much
more extensive" measures against the $1.5 trillion Russian economy.
The Russian ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, was summoned to the Foreign
Office and given until the end of Tuesday to provide an explanation.
Russia has denied any role in the attack on Skripal and his daughter.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States had "full
confidence" in Britain's assessment that Russia was likely responsible.
U.S. President Donald Trump has not yet publicly commented on the
attack.
Earlier, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the United States
stood by Britain, calling it America's "closest ally," but she stopped
short of blaming Russia for the attack.
The European Union also said it would stand by Britain, which is due to
leave the bloc in just over a year's time. May spoke to French President
Emmanuel Macron, who Downing Street said condemned the attack and
offered his solidarity with Britain.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of any nerve agent
was horrendous and completely unacceptable.
NERVE AGENT
Russia said May's allegations were politically motivated.
"It is a circus show in the British parliament," the TASS news agency
quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.
"The conclusion is obvious: It's another political information campaign,
based on a provocation."
[to top of second column]
|
The forensic tent, covering the bench where Sergei Skripal and his
daughter Yulia were found, is repositioned by officials in
protective suits in the centre of Salisbury, Britain, March 8, 2018.
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
May said Russia had shown a pattern of aggression including the
annexation of Crimea and the murder of former KGB agent Alexander
Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with
radioactive polonium-210.
A British public inquiry found the killing of Litvinenko had
probably been approved by Putin and carried out by two Russians,
Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoy - a former KGB bodyguard who later
became a member of the Russian parliament.
Both denied responsibility, as did Moscow.
Putin, who took over as Kremlin chief from Boris Yeltsin on the last
day of 1999, has denied allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016
U.S. presidential election and says the West has repeatedly tried to
undermine Russian interests.
Skripal betrayed dozens of Russian agents to British intelligence
before his arrest in Moscow in 2004. He was sentenced to 13 years in
prison in 2006, and in 2010 was given refuge in Britain after being
exchanged for Russian spies.
Since emerging from the John le Carre world of high espionage and
betrayal, Skripal lived modestly in Salisbury and kept out of the
spotlight until he was found unconscious on Sunday.
Novichok agents are believed to be five to 10 times more lethal than
the more commonly known VX and Sarin. 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.
Russian state television said Skripal had been recruited by the
British when working as Russia's military attache in Spain and that
he had handed over 20,000 pages of secret documents to MI6,
Britain's foreign spy service.
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 a serious but stable condition, police said.
(Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |