Britain’s conclusion that two hitmen from Russia’s GRU intelligence agency tried to kill a former spy with novichok has been backed by the US, France, Germany and Canada.
London’s Met Police yesterday detailed how two men travelling under the names Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, came to the UK, went to Sergei Skripal’s house in Salisbury and quickly flew back to Russia.
Theresa May then outed the pair as GRU agents sent to kill the former double agent in an ‘appalling’ attack.
Today, she was backed by Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump, who said the attempted assassination was ‘almost certainly’ approved at a senior level of the Moscow government.
US, France, Germany and Canada have backed Britain’s assessment that Russian intelligence services were behind the attempted nerve agent assassinations in Salisbury
Their joint statement says: ‘We, the leaders of France, Germany, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, reiterate our outrage at the use of a chemical nerve agent, known as Novichok, in Salisbury on March 4.’
‘We welcome the progress made in the investigation into the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, and take note of the attempted murder charges brought yesterday against two suspects.
‘We commend the work of the UK police and all those involved in this investigation.
‘We also note the UK’s analysis, independently verified by the OPCW, that the exact same chemical nerve agent was used in the poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charles Rowley as was used in the poisoning of the Skripals.
‘We urge Russia to provide full disclosure of its Novichok programme to the OPCW.
‘And we encourage those with information about the attack in Salisbury on March 4, as well as the further poisoning in Amesbury, to come forward to the UK authorities.
Donald Trump and Angela Merkel are among the allies who have backed Britain’s conclusion that Russia’s GRU was behind the novichok attack
French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also signed a statement saying the hit was ‘almost certainly approved at a senior government level’
The statement continued: ‘We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level.
‘We have already taken action together to disrupt the activities of the GRU through the largest ever collective expulsion of undeclared intelligence officers.
‘Yesterday’s announcement further strengthens our intent to continue to disrupt together the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories, uphold the prohibition of chemical weapons, protect our citizens and defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies.’