Theresa May has issued an ultimatum to the Kremlin: respond to the accusations that you are responsible for the Novichok poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal or face harsh consequences, either diplomatically or militarily.
Gizmodo reports:
Theresa May delivered a harsh rebuke of Russia in parliament on Monday, accusing the country of using a chemical weapon against Skripal and stating that there would be some kind of response soon.
“This attempted murder, using a weapons-grade nerve agent in a British town, was not just a crime against the Skripals. It was an indiscriminate and reckless act against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk. And we will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil,” said May.
“Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.”
So what does a British response look like? That’s very unclear at this point. Britain could do anything from expel Russian diplomats in the country to sanction Russian state media such as RT. Tough financial sanctions against Russia are also on the table and the most extreme response could involve putting more troops in Russia’s neighboring countries like Estonia. But nobody knows for sure yet precisely what route the UK will choose.
For its part, the White House has been pretty quiet when it comes to the poisoning story. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders expressed solidarity with the UK yesterday, but refused to utter the word “Russia.”
Russia denies all links to the Novichok attack, refusing to comply with the United Kingdom’s investigation unless the country can provide the Kremlin with samples of the nerve agent used.
“Russia is ready to cooperate in accordance with the convention to ban chemical weapons if the United Kingdom will deign to fulfill its obligations according to the same convention,” said Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, at a press conference today.
Lavrov insisted that he had yet to receive a formal complaint from the UK and that Russia would be happy to help with any investigation if it were provided with samples of the nerve agent. Even without any such samples, however, Russia solidly refuted the British prime minister’s conclusion. “Russia is not responsible,” Lavrov said.
So what is Novichok? According to Wikipedia:
Novichok (Russian: новичок meaning roughly "newcomer", "newbie" or "new guy") is a series of nerve agents that were developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.[1] Allegedly these are the most deadly nerve agents ever made, with some variants possibly five to eight times more potent than VX.[2][3] (The VX nerve agent is what was used to assassinate Kim Jong Nam in February of last year in Malaysia.) They were designed as part of the Soviet program codenamed "Foliant".[4] Initially designated K-84 and later renamed A-230, the Novichok family of analogs comprises more than a hundred structural variants.[5] Of all the variants, the most promising from a military standpoint was A-232 (Novichok-5).[6]
While Novichok agents have never been used on the battlefield, British Prime Minister Theresa May said that such an agent was used in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, England, in March 2018.[7]
People familiar with Kremlin-sanctioned poisonings will have familiar bells ringing for them when looking at Sergei Skripal and his daughter’s poisoning: Alexander Litvinenko.
Litvinenko was Russian defector and former FSB secret service officer who died in the United Kingdom in 2006 from acute radiation syndrome caused by Polonium-210 poisoning.
On 1 November 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill and was hospitalised in what was established as a case of poisoning by radioactive polonium-210; he died from the poisoning on 23 November. He became the first known victim of lethal polonium 210-induced acute radiation syndrome.[7] The events leading up to this are a matter of controversy, spawning numerous theories relating to his poisoning and death. A British murder investigation pointed to Andrey Lugovoy, a former member of Russia's Federal Protective Service, as the prime suspect. Britain demanded that Lugovoy be extradited, which is against the Constitution of Russia, which directly prohibits[8]extradition of Russian citizens. Russia denied the extradition, leading to the cooling of relations between Russia and the United Kingdom.
This is a brazen attack on UK soil and on a domestic intelligence asset. It is disconcerting that the White House has remained almost entirely mum on this issue. It is also concerning that Rex Tillerson, who was in talks with POTUS45 over leaving his post last Friday, was immediately fired from his position officially this morning and replaced with CIA Director Mike Pompeo
President Trump has ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and plans to nominate CIA Director Mike Pompeo to replace him as the nation’s top diplomat, orchestrating a major change to his national security team amid delicate negotiations with North Korea, White House officials said Tuesday.
—a day after placing blame squarely on Russia for Skripal’s poisoning.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Britain “clearly came from Russia” and “certainly will trigger a response.”
Tillerson says he doesn’t know whether Russia’s government had knowledge of the poisoning. But he is arguing the poison couldn’t have originated anywhere else. He says the substance is known to the U.S. and doesn’t exist widely. He says it’s “only in the hands of a very, very limited number of parties.”
Tillerson calls the poisoning “a really egregious act” and says it’s “almost beyond comprehension” that a state actor would use such a dangerous substance in a public place.
Given that the New Yorker recently released an article on Christopher Steele outlining the extraordinary ‘veto power’ the Kremlin held over Secretary of State nominations,
One subject that Steele is believed to have discussed with Mueller’s investigators is a memo that he wrote in late November, 2016, after his contract with Fusion had ended. This memo, which did not surface publicly with the others, is shorter than the rest, and is based on one source, described as “a senior Russian official.” The official said that he was merely relaying talk circulating in the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but what he’d heard was astonishing: people were saying that the Kremlin had intervened to block Trump’s initial choice for Secretary of State, Mitt Romney. (During Romney’s run for the White House in 2012, he was notably hawkish on Russia, calling it the single greatest threat to the U.S.) The memo said that the Kremlin, through unspecified channels, had asked Trump to appoint someone who would be prepared to lift Ukraine-related sanctions, and who would coöperate on security issues of interest to Russia, such as the conflict in Syria. If what the source heard was true, then a foreign power was exercising pivotal influence over U.S. foreign policy—and an incoming President.
it is hard not to see the nefariousness of it all.