Before Vladimir Putin will visit President Trump next year, Kremlin vows to retaliate against US new sanctions over Russia using nerve agent to assassinate UK citizen Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March
Thursday, August 09, 2018
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| Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal (right) and his daughter Yulia (left) |
On Thursday, March 29, 2018, Russia punched back to expel 60 American Diplomats and their families within one week and close the U.S. Consulate in Saint Petersburg.
Sergei Skripal, was a former Russian military intelligence officer but he also worked for UK so that Russia jailed him. He was exchanged with Russian agents caught in the United States and he was released from Russia to settle in Salisbury, 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of London.
On March 3, 2018, Russia allowed his daughter Yulia Skripal to visit her father in London. She arrived at Heathrow Airport from Russia.
On March 4, 1:40 p.m. Sergei Skripal parked his red BMW car at a lot in central Salisbury. In the afternoon, Sergei and his daughter Yulia Skripal visited the Bishops Mill pub. From 2:20 pm to 3:35 pm, Sergei and Yulia Skripal took their lunch at the Zizzi restaurant.
Later on March 4, at 4:15 p.m, a passer-by called Emergency services to inform about a man and a woman in Salisbury city center. They are transported to Salisbury District Hospital, where they remain in critical condition.
On March 6 and following days, the UK Counterterrorism detectives took charge of the investigation and found that Russia used Nerve Agent Novichok produced by USSR during Cold War to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
A team of 180 troops trained in chemical warfare and decontamination are deployed to Salisbury to help with the police investigation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow might be willing to assist with the investigation but expresses resentment at suggestions the Kremlin was behind the attack.
Prime Minister Theresa May on March 12 told the House of Commons that the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. She says it’s highly likely it came from Russia, and gives Moscow until midnight March 13 to provide an explanation or face “extensive” retaliatory measures.
Russia ignored this warning. On March 14, Theresa May announced in the House of Commons that Russia is “culpable” of the Skripals’ attempted murder. She declared Britain will expel 23 Russian diplomats within one week, suspend high-level contacts with Moscow and take new measures against “hostile state activity.”
On March 15, 2018, President Trump signs Joint Statement with UK, German and French Leaders to condemn Russia in using Nerve Agent to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Today on Monday March 26, 2018, President Donald Trump declared to expel 60 Russian Diplomats and their families within one week and to close Russian government Consulate in Seattle over the using chemical weapon to poison ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in London.
There are other 20 countries have alsoe announced to expel at least 100 Russian Diplomats to protect the security of their nations.
Today on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2018, the US State Department declared the new sanctions were in response to Russia for "the use of a 'Novichok' nerve agent in an attempt to assassinate UK citizen Sergei Skripal" -- who was a Russian double agent -- and his daughter Yulia on English soil in March.
The Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists today that Russia will "work on developing retaliatory measures". She added: "Whatever the sanctions against Russia are, the retaliatory measures will be the same".
"If they dream up some (measures), we will answer -- it's not our choice," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was equally emphatic.
Read the following report from AFP on Yahoo News at:
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| Military forces work on a van in Winterslow, England, Monday, March 12, 2018, as investigations continue into the nerve-agent poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, in Salisbury, England, on Sunday March 4, 2018. British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to update lawmakers Monday on the nerve-agent poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. (Frank Augstein/Associated Press) |
Russia vows to retaliate against new US sanctions
The action by the US State Department is the latest salvo in a series of disputes between the rival powers and comes less than a month after US President Donald Trump met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
The State Department said Wednesday the new sanctions were in response to "the use of a 'Novichok' nerve agent in an attempt to assassinate UK citizen Sergei Skripal" -- who was a Russian double agent -- and his daughter Yulia on English soil in March.
They were aimed at punishing Putin's government for having "used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
But the punitive measures triggered a furious reaction from Moscow.
Russia will "work on developing retaliatory measures," foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told journalists.
"Whatever the sanctions against Russia are, the retaliatory measures will be the same," she said.
"If they dream up some (measures), we will answer -- it's not our choice."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was equally emphatic.
"We consider categorically unacceptable the linking of new restrictions, which we as before consider illegal, to the case in Salisbury," he told journalists.
He said Moscow felt it could now "expect anything at all from Washington" but nevertheless retained "hopes of building constructive relations."
The announcement of sanctions caused Russian stock markets to drop dramatically on opening and the ruble reached its lowest point since November 2016. The markets and the currency rebounded slightly over the day while remaining sharply down.
Finance minister Anton Siluanov assured Russians that the government and the central bank have "all the necessary tools to ensure financial stability," saying the economy has become more resistant to external shocks in recent years.
Vladimir Vasilyev, a senior researcher at the Institute of the US and Canada in Moscow, said the Americans were strengthening sanctions "from an element of pressure into an ultimatum."
He said the countries were now in a state "balancing on the verge of war."
- Threat of wider sanctions -
The move could cut off hundreds of millions of dollars worth of exports to Russia, said a senior State Department official on condition of anonymity.
The official told reporters the administration decided to impose a "presumption of denial" for the sale to Russia of "national security sensitive" US technologies that require federal government approval.
Such technologies have often been used in items including electronic devices as well as calibration equipment. The exports were previously allowed on a case-by-case basis.
In the event of non-compliance, the official added, a second round of "draconian" sanctions would be given a green light. These could go as far as a ban on Russian airlines using US airports.
The latest US action follows the treasury's imposition of sanctions in March against 19 Russian citizens and five entities for interfering in the 2016 US election -- the toughest steps against Moscow since Trump took office.
Also in March, Washington ordered the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats, and the closure of Russia's consulate general in Seattle.
Moscow ordered 60 American diplomats expelled in a tit-for-tat response.
- 'Provocative, reckless behaviour' -
Britain said it welcomed the US response to the chemical attack in Salisbury, the English town where the Skripals were poisoned.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said the sanctions would send "an unequivocal message to Russia that its provocative, reckless behaviour will not go unchallenged."
This week, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported that London was preparing to ask Moscow to extradite two Russian citizens suspected of carrying out the Salisbury attack.
The Skripals survived but one of two people poisoned by the same Novichok agent in a nearby town, 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess, subsequently died.
Moscow has angrily rejected any involvement in the poisoning, plunging diplomatic relations with London into crisis.
The Russian economy is still reeling from international sanctions imposed on Moscow in 2014 over its actions in Ukraine and a crash in oil prices the same year.
While Russia returned to growth in 2017 after two years of recession, it pales in comparison with growth figures seen during Putin's first two terms in office from 2000 to 2008 thanks to soaring oil prices.
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