UNITED WE STAND
US calls Salisbury spy poisoning ‘Russia’s crime’ and vows to help Theresa May and UN retaliate
THE US has called the Salisbury spy poisoning "Russia's crime" and vowed to help Theresa May and the UN retaliate.
America's ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said the country holds Russia responsible for the chemical attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who are fighting for their lives after they were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent on March 4.
5
Ms Haley told a special meeting of the Security Council: "The United States believes that Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using a military-grade nerve agent.
"The United States stands in absolute solidarity with Great Britain."
Ms Haley expressed fears that such attacks to the one on March 4 could be repeated if the UN failed to take action.
She said: "If we don't take immediate concrete measures to address this now, Salisbury will not be the last place we see chemical weapons used.
What we know so far:
- Jeremy Corbyn was branded Vladimir Putin's puppet after refusing to accept Russia was behind the nerve agent attack.
- Theresa May announced she would kick out 23 diplomats in the wake of the Sergei Skripal case.
- The Russian Embassy has responded by calling the expulsion 'unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted' - and said 'response measures will not be long in coming'.
- The Prime Minister also confirmed government officials and members of the Royal family would not be attending the World Cup in Russia.
- Vladimir Putin ignored a deadline set by the PM to explain his involvement in the poisoning and instead warned Britain 'not to threaten a nuclear power'.
- Skripal's niece claimed that daughter Yulia could have been the real target of the nerve agent attack.
- CCTV footage emerged showing Skripal's last journey before the chemical attack.
- Russian exile Nikolai Glushkov was discovered dead with 'strangulation marks' on his neck on Monday night by daughter Natalia Glushkova in New Malden, South West London.
- Glushkov's daughter Natalia is believed to be in hiding after discovering her dad's dead body.
- The hunt for clues has now been extended 25 miles away to Gillingham, Dorset.
- Russian exiles have now been asked by cops to help identify a mystery couple aged between 35 and 40 seen close to Skripal and his daughter before they collapsed.
- Skripal and daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition in hospital after being exposed to the nerve agent in Salisbury on March 4.
5
"They could be used here in New York, or in cities of any country that sits on this Council."
The UK's deputy UN ambassador, Jonathan Allen, told the Security Council that the international watchdog for chemical weapons has been called on investigate British analysis of the attack.
In heated exchanges at the gathering, Russia strongly denied it was involved in the Salisbury incident.
The country's permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said they demanded material proof be found.
5
He added: "Without this, stating that there is incontrovertible truth is not something that we can take into account."
The UN showdown came after Mrs May announced the largest mass expulsion of diplomats since the Cold War.
Mrs May told the House of Commons the attack in Salisbury was "an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom".
Along with expelling 23 Russian diplomats from the UK, she also announced the suspension of high-level contacts with Russia, including a boycott of this summer's World Cup by Government ministers and members of the royal family.
And she said Russian state assets will be frozen "wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents".
5
5
Russia's Ministry for Foreign Affairs branded Mrs May's statement as "an unprecedentedly crude provocation that undermines the foundations of a normal interstate dialogue between our countries".
The Ministry said: "We consider it categorically unacceptable and unworthy that the British Government, in its unseemly political aims, further seriously aggravated relations, announcing a whole set of hostile measures, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the country."
Mrs May said Russia had failed to provide a "credible" explanation for how the Novichok nerve agent which it had developed came to be used in the attack on the Skripals, who remain in hospital after being found slumped on a bench near Salisbury shopping centre.
Mrs May addressed MPs after being briefed by senior military and intelligence chiefs at a meeting of the National Security Council at which it was agreed to take "immediate actions to dismantle Russia's spy network in the UK".
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.
PM Theresa May announces expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and calls nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal 'unlawful use of force'