LONDON – Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson warned on Tuesdaythat Britain would respond “robustly” if it emerged that a government wasbehind the suspected poisoning of a former Russian double agent.
Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who cameto link> link>Britain link> in a spy swap in 2010, wasfound unconscious with his daughter Yulia in the southwestern English cityof Salisbury on Sunday.
The pair, found on a bench outside a shopping centre, were treated for“suspected exposure to an unknown substance” and are currently in acritical condition in a local hospital.
Johnson told the House of Commons that it was too soon to establish thecause of the “disturbing” incident, which caused a major security alert inthe normally quiet city.
But he noted “the echoes” with the 2006 poisoning in London of Kremlincritic Alexander Litvinenko, an attack that an inquiry ruled was likelyordered by President Vladimir Putin.
“I can reassure the House that should evidence emerge that implies stateresponsibility, then Her Majesty’s Government will respond appropriatelyand robustly,” Johnson said.
He added: “Though I am not now pointing fingers, I say to governmentsaround the world that no attempt to take innocent life on UKlink>(United Kingdom) soil will go eitherunsanctioned or unpunished.”
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Tuesday that it had noinformation on the “tragic situation”.
“We don’t have information about what could be the cause, what this persondid,” he said.
He said London had not made any requests for assistance in theinvestigation, but added: “Moscow is always ready for cooperation.”
*’Hallmarks of Russian attack’*
Police earlier revealed that a number of emergency services personnelrequired medical assessment after the incident, and one remains in hospital.
However, they stressed there was no immediate risk to public health.
A cordon remained in place on Tuesday where Skripal, 66, and his33-year-old daughter were found, while a restaurant on a street nearby,Zizzi, was also closed in a “precaution”.
Specialists from the counter-terrorism police unit are assisting in theinvestigation.
Fears of the suspected poisoning revived memories of Litvinenko, anex-Russian spy who was killed by radioactive polonium put in his tea inLondon.
A British enquiry ruled in 2016 that Putin “probably approved” the killingand identified two Russians Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, as the primesuspects.
The incident caused a deep diplomatic split between London and Moscow, andafter a thaw, tensions are rising again, fuelled by accusations of Russiancyber-attacks on the West.
The Chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, TomTugendhat, warned the evidence pointed to Russia’s involvement in theSalisbury incident.
“It is too early to say whether it is certain or not, but it certainlybears all the hallmarks of a Russian attack,” he said.
*’Anti-Russian provocation’*
Skripal was sentenced to 13 years in jail in Russia in 2006 for betrayingRussian intelligence agents to link>link>Britainlink> ‘s MI6 secret service.
He was pardoned before being flown to link>link>Britainlink>as part of a high-profile spy swapbetween Russia and the United States in 2010.
His collapse made the front pages of almost alllink> link>Britain link> ‘s newspapers on Tuesday, withthe Daily Mail speculating that Skripal may have been the target of arevenge “hit” by former colleagues.
Litvinenko’s widow, Marina, told The Times that watching footage ofemergency responders in hazardous material suits “was kind of deja vu”.
William Browder, a British hedge fund manager who has campaigned againstthe Kremlin over the death in custody of his former employee SergeiMagnitsky, said his “first suspicion” was that Moscow was involved.
“This man was considered by the Kremlin to be a traitor to Russia,” hetold AFP.
“They have a history of doing assassinations in Russia and abroad. And theyhave a history of using poisons, including inlink> link>Britain link> .”
However, Lugovoi, who is an MP in the Russian parliament, responded to theBritish media reports by saying that link>link>Britainlink> “suffers from phobias”.
“Because of the presidential elections [on March 18], our actions in Syria,the situation with Skripal could be spun into an anti-Russian provocation,”he told Interfax news agency. – APP/AFP