Smearing a Russian-equivalent of VX-nerve agent on the door handles of their car in Salisbury, U.K., March 4, Russian officials have run out of plausible deniability in the U.N. Security Council. With 66-year-old former GRU agent Sergei Skripal and his 22-year-old daughter Yulia in critical condition in a Salisbury hospital, Prime Minister Theresa May expelled 23 Russian diplomats from the U.K., prompting angry denials by Russian officials. “Russia had nothing to do with this incident,” said Russian U.K. Amb. Vassily Nebenzia. “We have nothing to fear, nothing to hide,” Nebenzia told the U.N. Security Council. U.K. officials plan to offer Russia proof of Novichok, a Russian-made nerve agent10-times more potent than VX, the lethal chemical used by North Korean agents to kill the half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, of dictator Kim Jong-un at the Kuala Lumpur Airport Feb.13, 2017.
Responding to the attack, May expelled 23 diplomats believed to be “undeclared intelligence officers,” hoping to make a point to the Kremlin that targeted assassinations on British soil are unacceptable. When 43-year-old former Russian FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko died in London of radioactive Polonium-210 Nov. 23, 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin also denied any involvement. Traced to a Russian nuclear reactor, Polonium-210 is uniquely Russian radioactive poison, inconceivable from any source other than the Russian Federation. British authorities traced the Polonium-210 to the exact flight from Moscow, leaving a radioactive trail to prove its origin. Yet Putin and the Kremlin denied any involvement. May’s expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats sends a clear message to Putin. Russia must “account for its actions,” said U.N. Amb. Nikki Haley.
Violating the Jan. 13, 1993 Chemical Weapons Ban, Putin can’t continue his denials, especially when Novichok is a uniquely Russian-made chemical weapon. When you consider that some 200 bystanders tested positive for Novichok around Salisbury where Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a park bench, it attests to the deadly nature of banned chemical weapons. Putin said yesterday that it’s possible the substance came from one of the former Soviet Republics, something over which he has no control. But the Russian Federation keeps tight control of its chemical weapons stockpile, despite signing the 1993 Chemical Weapons Ban. “We demand that material proof be provided of the allegedly found Russian trace,” said Nebenzia, telling the U.K. the Kremlin doesn’t respond to ultimatums. May plans to provide Moscow with evidence in due time.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told May that the Russian Federation doesn’t accept ultimatums. “Not a single person can come to parliament and say: ‘I give Russia 24 hours’: What kind of talk is that after all,” unable to accept the gravity of the situation. Targeted assassinations violate U.K. sovereignty as much as a military attack. “The United States shares the United Kingdom’s assessment that Russia is responsible for the reckless nerve agent attack on a British citizen and his daughter, and we support the United Kingdom’s to expel Russian diplomats as a just response,” said the White House. Walking a fine line, French President Emmanuel Macron offered a measured approach, reserving judgment on Russia’s culpability until proof can be shown. Macron offered London his full support Tuesday, planning on meeting May March 15.
Russia has run out of plausible deniability for these kinds of targeted assassinations. Since denials from Litvinenko’s 2006 Polonium-210 poisoning in London, Moscow has never accepted responsibility. “We ask you today to stand by us,” said British Deputy Amb. Jonathan Allen, insisting the assassination attempt was “state sponsored.” “This was a reckless and indiscriminate act that puts at risk the lives of civilians,” seeking, but not getting, any satisfaction from Moscow. Judging by the Litvinenko case, the Kremlin will never admit to state sponsored use of chemical weapons. Putin denies any encroachment on Ukraine sovereignty, after seizing Crimea March 1, 2014, stationing battalions of Russian troops in the Donbass region close to the Russian border. U.S. Amb. Nikki Haley told the U.N. Security Council that Russia’s misbehavior was undeniable.
Whatever meddling took place in the 2016 election from Russia, it pales in comparison to targeted assassination attempts with banned chemical weapons. “Russia is responsible for the attack on two people in the United Kingdom using military grad nerve agent,” said Haley, offering no apology for holding the Kremlin accountable. Expelling 23 Russian diplomat-spies was a mild response, compared to other measures available to May, including seizing Russian assets. Whether or not Putin continues his plausible deniability, the March 4 Salisbury chemical attack had Russia’s fingerprints all over it. “Alone, Russia’s crime is worthy of this council’s action, but this is not an isolated incident. The assassination attempt in Salisbury is part of an alarming increase in the use of chemical weapons,” said Haley, referring to reports of chemical weapons use in Syria and elsewhere.
