By Ahmet Gurhan Kartal
LONDON
The evidence showing that Russia was behind the nerve agent attack in Salisbury is “overwhelming”, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Thursday.
Speaking to the BBC, Johnson said a sample of the nerve agent used in the attack that left former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in critical but stable condition will be submitted to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for examination.
Johnson’s remarks came a day after the U.K. expelled 23 Russian diplomats described by Prime Minister Theresa May as “undeclared intelligence officers”.
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident but vowed to retaliate.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a public bench on March 4 after visiting a restaurant and a pub. More than 20 people, including a police officer, were taken to hospital.
The incident has been compared to the 2006 death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko after being poisoned with a radioactive substance in a central London hotel. Former KGB bodyguards identified as suspects in the murder denied any involvement.
Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. Before the exchange, he was serving 13 years in prison for leaking information to British intelligence.
Johnson said the attack was a “measure of Russian brutality and recklessness” as it aimed to harm not only Skripal but also anybody in the vicinity, adding that it “shocked and appalled not just this country but also so many of our partners around the world”.
Stressing that he was “heartened” by the support for Britain from around the world, Johnson said: “There is very little doubt in people’s minds that this is a signature by the Russian state” in “deliberately using Novichok nerve agent developed by Russia to punish a Russian defector -- as they would see it -- in the run-up to Vladimir Putin’s election,” set for Sunday.
“There is a global disgust at what had happened,” he said.
Johnson also said the Novichok nerve agent was developed by Russia alone during the Cold War, adding: “I am afraid the evidence is overwhelming that it is Russia.”
-Russia vows retaliation
Russia will expel British diplomats in response to U.K. actions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday, adding fuel to an escalating dispute over the attempted murder of an ex-Russian spy living in England.
"Certainly. Soon," Lavrov said when asked at a forum in Moscow if Russia would order British diplomats to leave.
Lavrov called the U.K. actions "the nervous reaction to Russia's return as an equal partner."
Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday announced a series of measures, including the expulsion of Russian diplomats, the royal family and government ministers boycotting this summer’s World Cup in Russia, and revoking an invitation to Russia’s foreign minister.
She said Russia was “culpable” in the attack.
Russia dismissed a midnight Tuesday deadline put forth by London to explain how the military-grade nerve agent Novichok was used in the attack.
“But their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events,” May said.
“They have provided no credible explanation that could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent,” she said.
Russia should ‘go away and shut up’
British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said Russia should “go away and shut up” upon a question about how Russia might respond to the expulsion of 23 of its diplomats.
Williamson’s bullish response came following a speech he delivered in Bristol.
“What we will do is we will look at how Russia responds to what we have done,” Wiliamson said.
“It is absolutely atrocious and outrageous what Russia did in Salisbury. We have responded to that.”
“Frankly, Russia should go away and should shut up,” he added.
In his speech, Williamson accused Russia of “ripping up the international rulebook” through a series of actions aimed at subverting countries around the world.
“What is also clear is that the Kremlin is using its growing hybrid capabilities to subvert, undermine and influence countries around the world,” he said.
“Russia […] is already increasingly using proxies to undermine sovereign states,” Williamson said.
“Its involvement in the Ukraine conflict has cost thousands of lives,” he added.
The defense secretary also pointed out that British troops were ready alongside NATO allies "in Estonia and Poland to deter this [Russian] threat”.
He said Britain had a proud military history and continued to be active across the world, including “policing Eastern European skies against a resurgent danger from Russia”.
Announcing new funding for a new chemical defense center, he underlined that thousands of U.K. troops will be offered anthrax vaccines to help them deploy faster in case of a chemical attack.
