Kremlin will pay a high price for using chemical…

Kremlin will pay a high price for using chemical weapons, Jeremy Hunt claims

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has warned Russia it will pay a “high price” if it continues to use chemical weapons following the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Mr Hunt said he had had a “frank exchange of views” with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov when they met at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“It was pretty tough because it is not acceptable for Russia to instruct two GRU agents to use chemical weapons on British soil,” he told Sky News.

On Wednesday, the investigative group Bellingcat identified one of the suspects behind the attack as Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga – a highly-decorated officer in the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service.

The Government has declined to comment officially on the report, although it has previously said the two suspects wanted for the attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were GRU officers.

Salisbury suspects `Alexander Petrov´ and `Ruslan Boshirov´ (Met Police)

Salisbury suspects `Alexander Petrov´ and `Ruslan Boshirov´ (Met Police)

Mr Hunt said he believed the Russians had made the assassination attempt because they felt they had “got away” with the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, another former Russian agent, in London in 2005.

They appeared not to have anticipated the strength of the reaction to the Salisbury incident, with Britain marshalling the support of 28 countries around the world, who between them expelled more than 150 Russian diplomats.

“Our message to Russia is very straightforward: If you do this, the price will be too high,” he said.

“They paid a very high diplomatic price but they need to understand that it will not be a comfortable place for Russia in the world if this is the way they behave.”

Asked if he thought President Vladimir Putin had approved the attack, he said: “We all think that it’s unlikely that a great deal happens in Russia without the nod coming from highest levels.”

`Ruslan Boshirov´ and `Alexander Petrov´ on Fisherton Road, Salisbury (Metropolitan Police/PA)

`Ruslan Boshirov´ and `Alexander Petrov´ on Fisherton Road, Salisbury (Metropolitan Police/PA)

He added: “If they become the only major country on the (United Nations) Security Council that is giving the nod to use of chemical weapons, then that puts Russia in a very different place.

“If his great dream is for Russia to be shown respect by the international community, this is the wrong way to do it.”

The Russian foreign ministry has dismissed the latest claims about the attackers, claiming they were part of an “information campaign” by Britain and that Russia had nothing to do with the incident.

Bellingcat said it had identified Chepiga, who travelled to the UK with a passport issued in the assumed name of Ruslan Boshirov, by trawling through online records from Russian military academies.

It said that two sources had then provided its journalists with passport photos – one under the name Anatoliy Chepiga from around 2003 and one under the name Ruslan Borishov from 2009.

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