‘MOSCOW had no motives for poisoning former GRU Colonel Sergey Skripal and his daughter, while those who are trying to push ahead with the Russophobic campaign might have them,’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said yesterday, responding to the Tory government’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and suspension of high-level talks.
Lavrov added: ‘On Tuesday, both our and foreign mass media mentioned quite a few arguments explaining why Russia could not have any such motives. ‘Such motives might certainly exist in the minds of those who would like to push ahead with the Russophobic campaign in all spheres of human activity without an exception.’
The Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko, said: ‘It is absolutely unacceptable. We consider this a provocation. We believe that the United Kingdom should follow international law. ‘Under these obligations for chemical weapons they have to present the request to the organisation. ‘Then we are happy to consider this within ten days. This is international law. We believe that the measures which are taken by the British government are nothing to do with the situation that we have in Salisbury. We believe that this is a very serious provocation.’
In the House of Commons, Tory PM Theresa May made a statement on the expulsions: ‘Russia have treated the use of a military grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance. So Mr Speaker there is no alternative conclusion other than the Russian State is culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skipal and his daughter. ‘This represents unlawful use of force against the United Kingdom.’
She went on to say: ‘Let me start with the immediate actions: the House will recall that following the murder of Mr Litvinenko we expelled four diplomats under the Vienna Convention. The United Kingdom will now expel 23 Russian diplomats, who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers. They have just one week to leave. This will be the single biggest expulsion for thirty years.’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn lined up with May, he said: ‘The events in Salisbury earlier this month are abominable and have been rightly condemned across the house.
‘Britain has to build a consensus with our allies and we support the Prime Minister in taking multilateral action and firm action to ensure we strengthen the chemical weapons convention, to ensure this dreadful, appalling act, which we totally condemn, never happens again in our country.’
When interviewed earlier in the day, Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: ‘We need to hit them where it hurts. That is why we have been promoting the Magnitski Clause to the Money Laundering Bill. ‘We have been saying that this Magnitski Clause identifies individuals who are human rights abusers. We then hit them in the pocket, we don’t allow them to use our banking services, we isolate them completely from this market as well, by preventing them using banks in the City of London.
When asked if he backs the expulsion of Russian diplomats he said: ‘That is the traditional method and we probably would. The traditional methods sometimes really don’t have much effect.
‘If you hit them financially I think that has the effect. Remember, I have been raising this for quite a while now about how the City of London has been used for laundering Russian money.’
The amendment ‘inspired’ by the case of Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitski will require Ministers to freeze the UK assets of foreign officials ‘who abuse anti-corruption and human rights’ anywhere in the world. Under the new legislation, the assets can be frozen for up to two years if officials are presented with ‘compelling evidence and it is in the public interest to do so’.
In a separate interview, he was asked about ‘pulling the plug on Russia Today’, the Russian State TV channel. John McDonnell said: ‘That is a matter for Ofcom. We set in legislation the role of Ofcom. They have standards which any broadcaster has to abide by. If a broadcaster has offended that, we expect action by Ofcom. ‘I don’t think that politicians can get involved of that kind of thing otherwise we will be accused of censorship. Let Ofcom do their job and they will do that effectively I hope.’ McDonnell told the Andrew Marr show on Sunday that he would not appear on RT for an interview, effectively boycotting the station.
