Moscow hits back over Britain plans to expel 23 diplomats

Russia launches diplomatic attack on UK over the expulsion of 23 diplomats, saying the UN needs Sherlock Holmes’ smarts.

Theresa May tells the House of Commons late last night that the Russian state is culpable for the attempted murder of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Picture: AFP

Russia has launched an extraordinary diplomatic attack on Britain over the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats, claiming the UN security council needs the smarts of Sherlock Holmes, and that the British public is uneducated.

In a robust denial of British claims that the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was a Russian state sponsored assassination attempt, the Russian ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, pointed the blame at Britain. He said Britain had created an hysterical atmosphere, was not being transparent and had denied a request by Russia to have access to the chemical.

“To have diplomats expelled and bilateral relations frozen, does this apply to the UN as well, also cyber attacks against Russia, this will not remain without reaction.,’’ he said.

”The authorities are not interested in finding the truth, they are guiding something else, a propaganda way of recent years to influence the public, which is very easy to influence and they are not well educated.

“This is an unsubstantiated claim there is a Russian stain in this: this is not the first time Russian nationals or people from Russia have their life in danger in the UK and where instances (of death) are not investigated. London should try and determine what is happening on their territory before going ahead and accusing others, that is what polite people do.’’

Mr Nebenzia also claimed that Britain would not have been able to identify the Novichok chemical unless it had the formula, and the chemical standard, by which to compare the sample.

”If the UK is so firmly convinced it is Novichok then they have the samples and formula and are capable of manufacturing that,’’ he said.

“We are living in special times, where incredible things are happening. We are seeing the replacing presumption of innocence with the presumption of guilt and it being transferred into international relations.’’

Mr Nebenzia then gave parallels of the police investigation to Sherlock Holmes.

“Sherlock Holmes always finds what is behind the crime and the motive, I am not trying to say Scotland Yard are not professional, but I think we stand to benefit to have Sherlock Holmes with us today,’’ he said.

However other members of the security council unanimously condemned the attack on British soil and the use of chemical weapons, supporting the British claim that the nerve agent used was a weapon so horrific it is banned from use in war.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations gave Britain ”absolute solidarity’’ as she described “this defining moment.’’

She said if immediate concrete measures failed to address this now, then Salisbury will not be the last place we see chemical weapons used.

The British ambassador to the United Nations Jonathan Allen said Britain had asked for a quick answer because in the past Russia has not co-operated.

”Why were we keen for quick answer? That comes from past experience. The Russian playbook is to delay and distract. With the (Alexander) Litvinenko case we wanted for months to extradite the suspects, and we waited in vain, we will not make the same mistake again,’’ he said.

Britain to expel 23 Russian diplomats

Britain will expel 23 Russian ­diplomats for the state-sanctioned ­attempted murder of double agent Sergei Skripal, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.

Mrs May told the House of Commons that the Russian state was “culpable” for the attempted murder by a military-grade nerve agent it produced of Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Suspending all high-level bilateral contacts with Moscow, the Prime Minister said that ministers and the royal family would boycott the soccer World Cup to be hosted by Russia in June.

When asked if football officials should also boycott the FIFA World Cup, and whether any allies may also adopt a similar stance, Mrs May said the sporting officials “will want to be considering their position’’ in regards to going to Russia but that attending sporting events was a matter for sporting authorities.

In the biggest expulsion since the Cold War, Mrs May said the 23 diplomats had been identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”.

Mrs May said the Russians had offered no explanation as to how they lost control of their nerve agent Novichok, how it was used in UK or why Russia had an undeclared chemical weapons program in contravention of international law.

She said it was “tragic’’ that Russian President Vladimir Putin was acting in this way.

Mrs May said the request was treated by the Russians with “sarcasm, contempt and defiance’’ and she could form no other conclusion that “the Russian state is responsible’’ for the attack.

Mrs May said Britain would introduce laws to allow it to hold suspects at the UK border, similar to the nation’s tough anti-terrorism laws.

She said the UK would use existing powers to monitor and track those travelling to the UK, including private flights and freight.

She also warned that corrupt Russian elites had no place in British society, indicating that further economic sanctions of those oligarchs close to the Kremlin may be targeted.

Mrs May said Britain would also include US Magnitsky-style amendments to the sanctions to strengthen the response to human rights violations.

But Mrs May said it wasn’t in the national interest to break off all contacts with Russia.

“It is not in the national interest to break off all dialogue with Russia but in the aftermath this relationship cannot be the same,’’ she said.

She said Britain had revoked an invitation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to visit the UK.

She warned Russia that Britain would also deploy a range of tools to counter hostile state activity.

“Some cannot be shared publicity for reasons of national security,’’ she said.

“We stand ready to deploy at any time if face further provocation.’’

Russian dissident Nikolai Glushkov.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was jeered in the Commons after questioning why the Kremlin wasn’t provided with a sample of the nerve agent.

He said it was “essential to maintain a robust dialogue with Russia”.

Other Labour MPs then prefaced their comments supporting Mrs May’s stance.

In briefings to political journalists after the May speech, Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman said the Labour leader doesn’t believe there is enough proof that Russia is responsible for the Salisbury poisoning.

“There is a history between WMDs (weapons of mass destruction) and intelligence which is problematic, to put it mildly” the spokesman said.

The UN Security Council was at 6am today to hold an emergency session at Britain’s request, ­setting up the prospect of a public confrontation between the UK and Russia envoys, where Britain would outline its case that Russia had unleashed Novichok on the Skripals.

Russia’s embassy in London early today condemned as “hostile action” the series of punitive measures announced by Mrs May.

“We consider this hostile action as totally unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted. All the responsibility for the deterioration of the Russia-UK relationship lies with the current political leadership of Britain,” the embassy said.

In the Kremlin’s first response before the measures were unveiled, Mr Putin’s spokesman last night rejected Britain’s “unfounded accusations” and “ultimatums”. “Moscow does not accept unfounded accusations that are not based on evidence and a language of ultimatums,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

NATO allies last night urged Russia to answer Britain’s questions, calling the suspected attack a “clear breach of international norms”. “Allies expressed solidarity with the UK, offered their support in the conduct of the ongoing investigation, and called on Russia to address the UK’s questions,” said a joint statement by the 29 member nations.

Investigators believe the nerve agent was smeared on the door handles of Mr Skripal’s red BMW, in which the father and daughter drove to the Salisbury town centre on the afternoon of March 4. Concerns about the Russian state involvement grew with the unexplained death of Russian dissident Nikolai Glushkov, 68, a former chief of Aeroflot, who was found at his New Malden home in southwest London on Monday night, reportedly with strangulation marks around his neck.

Neighbours said they had not seen Mr Glushkov, who lived alone with his dog in the terrace house, for about a week.

Counter-terrorism police have taken the lead investigating Mr Glushkov’s death because of his connections to Mr Putin’s arch critic Boris Berezovsky, who also died in mysterious circumstances in his Berkshire bathroom in 2013. Home Secretary Amber Rudd ordered a new probe into the deaths of Berezovsky and 13 other Russians in Britain over the past 12 years.

Mr Glushkov fled Russia in 2006 and later was convicted in absentia of defrauding Aeroflot of $US123 million and sentenced to eight years’ jail. He insisted the conviction was politically motivated and Britain had rejected Moscow’s request for his extradition.

Yesterday Britain secured trans-Atlantic support for retaliatory action, with US President Donald Trump proclaiming “the US is with the UK all the way’’. France, Germany and other NATO allies have also been drawn into the fold.

Mrs May sought reassurances from Mr Trump following the sudden sacking of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“President Trump said the US was with the UK all the way, agreeing that the Russian government must provide unambiguous answers as to how this nerve agent came to be used,” a Downing Street spokesman said.

In Salisbury, counter-terrorism police sought information about a 45-minute window after the ­Skripals parked in a multistorey carpark hours before collapsing in a critical condition.

Police said they are not in a position to reveal where the poisoning took place, nor have they a particular suspect to identify and warned that police activity would continue in Salisbury for weeks.

Police said after Mr Skripal parked the car the two went to the Bishop Mill pub and then the Zizzi restaurant at 2.20pm. They were inside the restaurant until 3.35pm, 40 minutes before the first call was made to police reporting the two were slumped on a park bench.