Britain yesterday hailed the mass expulsion of more than 100 suspected Russian spies around the world as a “turning point” for the West’s attitude to a “reckless” Russia, as Moscow warned it would retaliate against “loutish behavior.”
Ireland yesterday became the latest nation to order out a Russian diplomat, with at least 117 Russian diplomats ordered out by 24 governments over two days, dwarfing similar measures during Cold War spying disputes.
“Never before have so many countries come together to expel Russian diplomats,” British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson wrote in the Times newspaper, calling it “a “blow from which Russian intelligence will need many years to recover.”
Photo: AFP
“I believe that yesterday’s events could become a turning point,” he said, adding: “The Western alliance took decisive action and Britain’s partners came together against the Kremlin’s reckless ambitions.”
The expulsions were a response to the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, on March 4.
Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer imprisoned by Moscow for passing on information about Russian agents in various European countries, came to Britain in a 2010 spy swap.
Britain earlier ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats after blaming Moscow for the attack — a charge fiercely denied by Moscow, which has pointed the finger at British intelligence.
Russia yesterday promised it would hit back.
“We’ll respond, have no doubt! No one wants to put up with such loutish behavior and we won’t,” Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov said on the sidelines of a conference in Uzbekistan.
Lavrov said the coordinated response was the result of “colossal pressure, colossal blackmail” from the US.
Washington led the way in a coordinated response after Britain’s calls for international action by ordering out 60 Russians in a new blow to US-Russia ties.
Australia, Canada, Ukraine and 17 EU states matched the move with smaller-scale expulsions.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday announced that the alliance would expel seven staff from the Russian mission.
“These expulsions are particularly destructive for US-Russia relations,” Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov wrote in the Vedomosti daily.
“Relations between Russia and the West are entering a period of full Cold War,” he said.
The Izvestia daily dismissed the expulsions as a “russophobic flashmob.”
In his Times article, Johnson said the attack fell into pattern of “reckless behavior” by Russian President Vladimir Putin, including the annexation of Crimea, adding: “The common thread is Putin’s willingness to defy the essential rules on which the safety of every country depends.”
Additional reporting by AP
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