Trump: 'Looks like' Russia to blame for UK attack

By Michael Hernandez and Barry Ellsworth

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said Thursday "it certainly looks like" Moscow is to blame for the poisoning of a defected Russian spy and his daughter on British soil.

Trump said after speaking with British Prime Minister Theresa May "it looks like" her government's assessment is correct.

"A very sad situation," Trump told reporters at the White House. "Something that should never, ever happen, and we're taking it very, very seriously as I think are many others."

Earlier Wednesday, Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats in the ongoing row with Russia over the attempted killing of former spy Sergei Skripal.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were admitted to a hospital March 4 after being found unconscious in the southern city of Salisbury

Since then, British officials have determined it is “highly likely” Moscow was behind what they describe as a chemical attack, in part because they have determined the nerve agent that was used is from the Novichok group of chemical weapons developed by Russia during the Cold War.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau added his voice Thursday to the chorus of countries condemning the poisoning.

“The attack is despicable and it is unacceptable that there would be chemical weapons used against citizens of the United Kingdom,” Trudeau told reporters Wednesday.

“Russia’s likely involvement is absolutely unacceptable and needs to be condemned in the strongest terms,” he said. “That’s what I told May and that is what I’m glad to repeat here today.

But while condemning the act, Canada has not invoked new sanctions against Russia, as the U.K. has done.

A media release from the Russian Embassy in the Canadian capital of Ottawa took exception to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who also condemned the attack earlier Wednesday before Trudeau addressed the incident.

“We regret Canadian foreign minister’s hasty support for the unfounded and unacceptable accusations on the part of the U.K. with regard to the Skripal (poisoning) case,” it said.