The prime minister told the House of Commons the Kremlin had responded with “sarcasm, contempt and defiance” to the 24-hour deadline the government set on Monday for explaining the attack on former spy Sergei Skripal.
“Their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events,” May told MPs. She said: “There is no alternative conclusion other than the Russian state was responsible for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter.”
It was “unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom”, May said.
Skripal remains in a critical condition after the incident in Salisbury last week. Analysis carried out by government experts has found that the former spy and his daughter Yulia were exposed to a banned nerve agent, likely to have been manufactured in Russia.
May announced that the government would take a series of measures, including cutting off high-level diplomatic contact, strengthening powers to detain suspected intelligence agents at the border, and expelling 23 “undeclared intelligence agents”. That is the largest such move since the cold war, and marks a considerable escalation on the expulsion of four diplomats after the murder of Alexander Litvinenko in 2007.
“We will not tolerate the threat to life of British people and others on British soil from the Russian government. Nor will we tolerate such a flagrant breach of Russia’s international obligations,” May said. “We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents. There is no place for these people – or their money – in our country.”
Source: theguardian
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