British diplomats stationed in Russia have begun leaving Moscow after being kicked out of the country in the row over the Salisbury poison attack.
UK embassy staff gathered outside in the snow and applauded their colleagues as vans carrying the 23 expelled diplomats drove away.
They have been booted out by the Russian authorities in a tit for tat retaliation after 23 Kremlin spies were expelled from Britain on Tuesday following the nerve gas attack.
The secret agents flew out of Stansted on a private jet on Tuesday after being given seven days to pack their bags and leave by Theresa May.
The departure of the Britons in Moscow came as the EU dramatically recalled its ambassador from Moscow overnight in a new show of support for the UK.
Members of the British embassy staff applaud as a convoy of vehicles leaves its compound in Moscow after the Kremlin booted out 23 diplomats in a tit for tat strike in the wake of Salisbury
British diplomats stationed in Russia have begun leaving Moscow after being kicked out of the country in the row over the Salisbury poison attack.
White vans carrying staff have left the British embassy and are understood to be heading to the airport where the staff will fly back to the UK
Sources said France, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are among a string of EU states who said they may boot out diplomats. Pictured: Prime Minister Theresa May arriving at the EU summit this morning
Theresa May (pictured in Brussels today with her EU ambassador Tim Barrow) addressed EU leaders on the growing threat from Russia at a Brussels summit last night and afterwards the EU issued a joint statement of solidarity
Kremlin spies face being purged from across Europe as five nations prepare to follow Britain’s lead in expelling diplomats over the attempted murder on Britain’s streets.
The EU ambassador is officially being recalled for consultations and has not at this stage ended his work in the Kremlin.
The departure of Britain’s diplomats come after Moscow’s spies – who were living in Britain under diplomatic cover – left the UK on Tuesday.
Friends of the expelled staff gathered on the street to bid them farewell as they were driven away form the Russian embassy in Kensington Gardens.
Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko bade farewell to the expelled diplomats and their families – around 80 in all and including many children taken out of school in London to be sent to Russia.
‘A fantastic plane was sent over,’ said the ambassador.
As the diplomatic stand-off between Britain and Russia continues, Mrs May received a major boost last night when the EU backed her and laid the blame for the attack on Moscow.
The departure of Britain’s diplomats come after Moscow’s spies – who were living in Britain under diplomatic cover – left the UK on Tuesday. Friends of the banished spies waved goodbye as they were driven away
The plane which carried Russian diplomats and their family members ordered to leave Britain as part of a standoff over a nerve agent attack on British soil, at Vnukovo 2 government airport outside Moscow
The signal is the latest tangible sign of support as international outrage over the attack on Sergei Skripal grows.
Sources said France, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are among a string of EU states who said they may boot out diplomats.
Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko risked stoking tensions by posting a tweet wishing the Skripals a speedy recovery.
He wrote: ‘Glad to know that detective sergeant Nick Bailey has been discharged from hospital. Hoping for recovery of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, too.’
It comes after Mrs May and EU leaders agreed to stand together against Russia in the wake of what they branded the ‘reckless’ attempted of Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia on March 4.
Theresa May (pictured today in Brussels with the UK’s ambassador to the EU Tim Barrow) managed to get a clear statement of support from the EU in response to the Salisbury poison case
Theresa May speaks with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite in Brussels this morning. Lithuania is one of the countries which is said to be considering kicking out Russian diplomatic staff as well
Meanwhile, Russia’s ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko risked stoking tensions by posting a tweet wishing the Skripals a speedy recovery
The decision came after Mrs May gave EU leaders at the European Council summit in Brussels a detailed account of the evidence which led the UK to point the finger of blame at Moscow.
European Council president Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter: ‘European Council agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for Salisbury attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.’
The announcement came as reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – are considering following Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.
Foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc issued a statement on Monday voicing ‘unqualified solidarity’ with the UK, but stopping short of pointing the finger of blame at Moscow for the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
EU leaders also decided to recall the bloc’s envoy to Russia ‘for consultations’.
‘The leaders agreed to withdraw the EU ambassador to Moscow for consultations,’ the source told AFP on condition of anonymity. ‘It is a show of intent.’
Leaders of the 28 EU states agreed with the UK that it is ‘highly likely’ Russia is responsible for the Salisbury nerve agent attack, European Council president Donald Tusk (pictured) has said
She told her colleagues at the summit the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia (pictured) in the city of Salisbury showed the Russian menace ‘doesn’t respect borders’
Mrs May said the European Council is ‘standing together’ on the Salisbury attack and ‘the threat that Russia poses respects no borders and it is a threat to our values’.
Mrs May had earlier spoken separately with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel at the summit in Brussels, where the trio agreed there was ‘no plausible explanation other than that the Russian state was responsible’ for the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
At a press conference in Brussels, European Council president Donald Tusk and Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker dodged a question of whether they shared Britain’s assessment that Russia is now ‘a strategic enemy, not a strategic partner’, saying only that the Salisbury attack would be discussed later.
But several EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, voiced solidarity with the UK.
Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite said she was considering following Britain’s lead by expelling Russian spies from her country.
Resistance to a firmer line with Moscow was apparently coming from Greece, whose prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: ‘We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.’
Arriving at the summit, Mrs May said she would tell fellow leaders that she sees the attack on Mr Skripal as part of a pattern of Russian aggression which threatens the continent’s democracies and requires a united response.
Theresa May chatted with French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Merkel as she arrived at the EU summit where leaders are expected to rubber stamp the Brexit deal
Prime Minister Theresa May has met with French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel to update them on the Salisbury poisoning
A judge has given doctors the go-ahead to take blood samples from Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia for testing by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
Arriving at the summit today, the Prime Minister said Vladimir Putin ‘s ‘brazen and reckless’ flouting of international law represents a threat democracies across the continent. She was greeted by Jean-Claude Juncker as she spoke
Mrs May made clear she will be pushing for strong condemnation from member states amid calls for Moscow to be seen as a ‘strategic enemy’
Wearing a white ribbon in commemoration of terror attacks in Westminster and Brussels, the Prime Minister said: ‘Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom when it attempted the murder of two people in the streets of Salisbury.
‘I will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it is clear that the Russian threat doesn’t respect borders and indeed the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours from the western Balkans to the Middle East.’
The text of a statement on the Salisbury attack as agreed by the leaders of the EU’s 28 member states at the European Council summit in Brussels.
It read: ‘The European Council condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent attack in Salisbury, expresses its deepest sympathies to all whose lives have been threatened and lends its support to the ongoing investigation.
‘It agrees with the United Kingdom Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation. We stand in unqualified solidarity with the United Kingdom in the face of this grave challenge to our shared security.
‘The use of chemical weapons, including the use of any toxic chemicals as weapons under any circumstances, is completely unacceptable, must be systematically and rigorously condemned and constitutes a security threat to us all.’
A Number 10 spokesman added: ‘The Prime Minister also outlined our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent; Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations.’
Meanwhile, in London, Russia’s ambassador Alexander Yakovenko condemned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comparison between Mr Putin hosting this summer’s World Cup with Hitler’s 1936 Olympics.
‘Nobody has the right to insult the Russian people, who defeated the Nazis,’ he said.
Mr Yakovenko demanded evidence for Britain’s allegation that Russia was behind the Salisbury attack, saying official statements on the poisoning had been ‘wild’ and the UK had ‘built its official position on pure assumptions’.
Vladimir Putin has dismissed the idea that the Russian state was linked to the use of military-grade Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury (file picture)
The response of the Government had created ‘serious problems’ in the Russia-UK relationship, he said.
Mrs May’s warning came as a British police officer who was also contaminated in the March 4 attack was released from hospital.
In a statement read by Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Keir Pritchard on his behalf, DS Bailey explained that the experience of his poisoning had been ‘completely surreal’.
Downing Street declined to say whether she would raise concerns over Jean-Claude Juncker’s controversial letter congratulating Mr Putin on his re-election as president.
The European Commission chief argued for ‘positive relations’ between the EU and Russia and did not mention the Salisbury incident.
Asked by reporters in Brussels whether he regretted writing the letter, Jean-Claude Juncker said Mrs Merkel had said the same things.
Downing Street declined to say whether Mrs May will raise concerns over Jean-Claude Juncker’s controversial letter congratulating Mr Putin on his re-election as president (the PM is pictured with the commission president in Brussels today
Germany’s Angela Merkel (pictured right with Mrs May today) and French president Emmanuel Macron have explicitly said they agree with the UK’s view that the only ‘plausible’ explanation for the use of military-grade Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury is the involvement of the Russian state
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (pictured in London today) escalated the war of words yesterday by suggesting that Vladimir Putin is hoping for a propaganda boost from this summer’s World Cup similar to that Hitler wanted from the 1936 Berlin Olympics
‘I wrote the same letter as Mrs Merkel,’ said the European Commission president. ‘Ask Mrs Merkel.’
However, Mrs Merkel actually said she hoped Mr Putin’s next term in office was ‘successful’ rather than congratulating him.
EU council chief Donald Tusk said yesterday that ‘after the Salisbury attack I am not in the mood to celebrate president Putin’s reappointment’.
In a mark of the decisive shift in Britain’s view in the wake of incidents ranging from the Litvinenko and Skripal poisonings to military interventions in Georgia and Ukraine and cyber interference with Western elections, one senior Whitehall official said Russia had shown itself to be ‘a strategic enemy, not a strategic partner’.
However the official stressed that Britain’s response to the Salisbury attack had been carefully calibrated to remain within the law, and that the UK ‘is not looking for confrontation or regime change’.