UK Accuses Putin Over Poison Attack

Thomas Grove in Moscow and

Thomas Grove

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@tggrove
thomas.grove@wsj.com

Jenny Gross in London

Jenny Gross

The Wall Street Journal

Biography
@jgginlondon

Updated March 16, 2018 9:39 a.m. ET

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The U.K. on Friday said it is “overwhelmingly likely” that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the poisoning of an ex-spy, upping the ante against Russia as Moscow warned it was prepared to escalate a standoff with the West.

Foreign Minister Boris Johnson’s comments mark the first time that the U.K. has specifically linked the Russian leader to the attack with a nerve agent, the first such in a North America Treaty organization ally.

The poisoning has sparked growing international anger and further isolated Russia, as U.K. allies back its assessment that Russia is culpable in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Russia has called the claim nonsense.

“Our quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin and with his decision,” Mr. Johnson said. “And we think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the U.K., on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War.”

Russia said it would hit back at punitive measures from the U.S. and U.K., announcing plans to expand a blacklist of Americans and to kick out British diplomats.

Mr. Putin, who is expected to win a presidential election on Sunday, has played the increasing tensions with the West to his advantage at home, presenting himself as a leader who can stand up to Europe and the U.S.

Responding to Mr. Johnson’s comment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was offensive to suggest that Mr. Putin was personally responsible.

“Any reference or mention of our president is nothing less than shocking or unforgivable from the point of view of diplomatic behavior,” he said.

President Donald Trump’s administration, which has joined in European outrage over the incident, introduced its first round of sanctions against Russia this week for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election and hacking into critical U.S. infrastructure like power grids.

The U.S. measures sanction 19 individuals and five entities, some of whom have already been hit by previous rounds, in a pointed but largely symbolic strike against the Kremlin.

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Moscow will raise the number of Americans on its list of sanctioned people to match the U.S. tally, said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

“Other steps are possible on our part, which we will calibrate, according to our own interests,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also confirmed that Moscow would be ousting an unknown number of British diplomats in Russia following U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats she says were working as undeclared intelligence officers.

Russia’s ambassador to the U.K., Alexander Yakovenko, said the U.K. expulsions would amount to a 40% cut of Russian diplomatic staff in London.

In a move that showed increasing cohesion among Western countries against Russia, the White House issued a joint statement Thursday with France, Germany and the U.K. condemning Russia for the attack.

The joint statement called the attack an assault on the U.K.’s sovereignty and violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention that “threatens the security of us all.”

Further measures from Moscow, although also likely more symbolic than practical, would represent the first escalation of a diplomatic tit-for-tat since last July.

Then, Moscow demanded Washington cut 755 diplomats and embassy staff in Russia in response to the administration of former President Barack Obama’s expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats from the U.S.

Moscow had originally held off from countering Mr. Obama’s moves, which came in December 2016 in response to interference in the election, in the hopes that relations could be improved under Mr. Trump. Mr. Putin denies Russian interference in the U.S. election.

Write to Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com and Jenny Gross at jenny.gross@wsj.com

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