What is she going to do if they don't though? (not being smart, I mean what is she actually going to do)

Anything she does will be to save face, nothing more. We are hardly going to declare war on Russia over an incident as minor as this. Russia have wanted a more relaxed reciprocal visa arrangement with the UK and were hoping to implement that for the upcoming world cup. I would imagine that will be the first thing to bite the dust

Iv'e no idea Niamh,but she will have to be seen to do something ,otherwise she will be demonized even more than she is,I don't envy her job at all.

They shouldn't be allowed anywhere near any sporting events imo because of their reputation for fixing results, drugging and especially in regards to soccer the racism.

I don’t like the rhetoric i’m hearing on the news tbh.
Saying under international law this would be classed as an armed attack which gives us the right to self defence by force.
This was a guy on Sky News.Is he fecking insane?

I'd like to post this article from last September in case anyone was wondering why Jeremy Corbyn has been so quiet...

In 2015 he (rightly) attacked Saudi Arabia's human rights record. He praised the Obama administration's nuclear deal with Iran. He attacked "the foul and despicable crimes committed by Isil and by the Assad government, including barrel bombs being dropped on civilian targets", but without mentioning Assad's backer, the supplier of those barrel bombs: Vladimir Putin.

In 2016, he attacked Saudi Arabia's war in the Yemen and promised to suspend arms sales to the Saudis and other countries which commit human rights abuses or war crimes. No other international issue was mentioned at all, apart from Brexit, but this was discussed only in domestic terms.
In 2017, he attacked President Trump on climate change. He again attacked the cruel Saudi war in the Yemen, the crushing of democracy in Egypt and Bahrain, and, without blaming anyone in particular, "the tragic loss of life in Congo". He called on Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the violence against Muslims in her country. He called for the UN secretary general to create dialogue between the United States and North Korea to "wind down the deeply dangerous confrontation over the Korean peninsula", although even here he carefully avoided any criticism of the North Korean dynastic dictator, who has starved and brutalised his own people while creating a long-range nuclear capability. He supported Palestine. He went back to Trump, calling for Britain to be a "candid friend" and publicly attack his policies on immigration, race, religion and pollution.

But there was no such suggestion of candour towards Putin. The speech set out a foreign policy of preaching and even insults for the leader of our biggest ally, and silence towards the leader of our biggest threat.

None of the three speeches gave any endorsement to Nato or confirmed that Britain, under his premiership, would fulfil its obligations towards each member of that alliance. I could not find any such endorsement online either, just a long history of his calls for Nato to be dissolved and for some kind of neutral or demilitarised zone on Russia's long borders. If that policy means anything, it means conceding to Putin a veto over the right of any adjacent country to invite allies to help defend its frontiers.

Since Corbyn has not talked about Putin and Russia in parliament, or to party conference, or during this year's general election, one has to search online for his views on them. I simply could not find a spontaneous, unprompted criticism of Putin.

http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-an...lence-on-putin

There's very little we can do, we're in a weak position and Russia doesn't need to pay any attention to anything we say or do. We can't do anything against them really.

Hmmm this is very dangerous, what else could w have other than dialogue? Which to me sounds nothing like something trump would say.... the alternative doesn't bear thinking about :/

'The Labour leader “sounded like President Trump” in calling for dialogue with Vladimir Putin when the Russian double agent and his daughter had been left in “mortal danger” by the nerve-agent attack, Mr Miliband warned.'

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a8252991.html

T May has the support of not only America, but NATO and France have also come out in support of her.

She has good clout now

:laugh2:

posting a discussion piece from the Guardian yesterday
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...skripal-affair

10 possible British responses to Russia over the Sergei Skripal affair
How could the UK punish Russia effectively? Here is an escalating list of potential measures

In a memorandum sent this month to the foreign affairs select committee, before the allegations of poisoning in Salisbury emerged, the Foreign Office said Russia was increasingly defining itself in opposition to the west.

Nevertheless the FCO said: “We want to reduce risk, talk about our differences, and ... as P5 members [permanent members of the UN security council], we want to engage constructively with Russia in the interests of security and stability, including on pressing issues such as North Korea and Iran. We are also working with Russia to ensure a safe and secure World Cup for visiting fans, with UK-Russia police cooperation under way ahead of the tournament”.

The events in Salisbury change that calculus, and in the words of the former national security adviser Lord Ricketts, the task now is to “punish Russia in a way that will make Vladimir Putin sit up and take notice”.

The full spectrum of options will be available to the national security committee on Monday, and in the end cabinet ministers’ decisions will be determined by how unequivocal the intelligence agencies choose to be in attributing responsibility to Russia, and agents of Putin’s government.

The question is how much the UK can achieve unilaterally, and how much requires wider EU, Nato and US support, something that will test UK diplomatic heft in a pre-Brexit era. The poisoning of a Russian double agent in a British cathedral city makes news, but many western politicians will be guided by bigger strategic choices including relations over Syria, Iran, Ukraine and commerce.

In ascending order, the UK’s potential options are:

1) Expulsion of diplomats
A minimalist option deployed by David Cameron’s government after the poisoning with polonium of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Expulsion of the ambassador would be a major step, but would leave the UK bereft of a high-level conduit to Moscow. Retaliation, including the expulsion of the UK ambassador from Russia, would probably follow, putting UK relations in a deep freeze.

2) Ask Ofcom to declare that Russian media outlets such as RT are not fit to hold a broadcasting licence
Public figures including shadow cabinet members, or the football manager José Mourinho, could be formally encouraged to pull out of the lucrative contracts they have signed to appear on RT. Such a move would be welcomed at least in France, where strong measures have been taken against fake news after allegations of Russian interference in the French presidential elections.

3) Seek support in the EU for sports officials not to attend the World Cup
This would not involve a boycott by footballers, but, in any case, many countries are unlikely to want to follow suit.

4) Introduce amendments to the sanctions and anti-money laundering bill

The legislation could be amended to allow stronger sanctions against human rights abusers, such as the persecutors of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax accountant who died in jail in Russia after revealing details of massive state-sponsored fraud.

The Foreign Office says it already has full confiscatory powers, but under pressure from Tory backbenchers such as Richard Benyon, and the Europe minister, Sir Alan Duncan, said ministers were minded to support a Magnitsky clause once the bill reaches report stage and the technical legal definitions of gross human rights abuse have been resolved. But ministers see this as a symbolic act to assuage public opinion.

5) Freeze assets of Russian oligarchs unable to explain sources of London property wealth
This would be legally risky and might hit as many Putin opponents as allies.

6) Seek further EU-wide sanctions on Russia
Russia, country under the most sanctions in the world apart from North Korea, has proved resilient to punitive measures. It is often a battle to persuade Germany, Italy and Greece to maintain existing EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine. Most experts say these sanctions reduced Russian growth by only 1% last year. In a recent report the Estonian intelligence agency said Putin “uses western sanctions to shield himself from criticism of a failed economic policy”, saying they help “to some degree to paper over the fundamental weaknesses in the economy”.

In the US, sanctions are being driven by Congress, not the White House, mainly through the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act passed in August. The law aims to punish Russia for its alleged meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

In support of the act, Congress demanded the US Treasury name and shame those who had benefited from close association with Putin and put them on notice that they could be targeted for sanctions, or more sanctions, in the future. No one on the list has been put under sanctions, and it appears to have been derived from a Forbes magazine list of Russian businessmen.

7) Step up Nato presence on the Russian border
The British army already has a four-year rotational presence, but moves closer to Belarus would send a signal.

The Trump administration says it has already asked to increase funding for the European Deterrence Initiative, a Barack Obama-era programme aimed at bolstering Nato’s defences against Russia, by almost $2bn. The White House says it has provided the Ukrainian military with extra arms for east Ukraine.

Nato can also step up the strategic pressure on Moscow by speeding the process of admitting Ukraine into provisional Nato membership through agreeing a membership action plan. Similar encouragement can be offered in the Balkans, a key area of conflict with Russia. The EU foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is visiting Ukraine this week on the fourth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea.

8) Designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism
In the US, designation results in a variety of unilateral sanctions, including a ban on arms-related exports and sales, prohibitions on economic assistance, and other punitive measures.

9) Cut Russian banks off from Swift
Some Russian banks linked to Iran have been cut off from the international system for the exchange of financial data (Swift). This might weaken Russia’s ability to trade internationally, but Russian banks have switched to a Russian payment system called SPFS set up with larger non-G7 countries.

10) Leak or publish classified material on the scale of alleged money laundering by Putin and his allies
The UK intelligence services have access to a large volume of material, some open sourced, setting out where Putin, his family and business entourage have placed money abroad. It would be possible for the UK government to give an official imprimatur to such information. The downside is that it would be viewed as an attempt to interfere in the current Russian presidential election campaign. Publishing personal information on rival political leaders has been seen as off limits, and might only prompt unwelcome reprisals aimed at UK politicians.

We're blatantly headed for cold war 2.0 aren't we.

Russia has said its 10 days notice
needed.
So by midnight tonight,
not expecting anything from Russia.


Also they asked for a sample
of the Nerve Agent
but no response from the UK.

@4) Introduce amendments to the sanctions and anti-money laundering bill

The legislation could be amended to allow stronger sanctions against human rights abusers, such as the persecutors of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax accountant who died in jail in Russia after revealing details of massive state-sponsored fraud.

The Foreign Office says it already has full confiscatory powers, but under pressure from Tory backbenchers such as Richard Benyon, and the Europe minister, Sir Alan Duncan, said ministers were minded to support a Magnitsky clause once the bill reaches report stage and the technical legal definitions of gross human rights abuse have been resolved. But ministers see this as a symbolic act to assuage public opinion.

That's ridiculous. All the government need to do is search for Russian companies registered in the UK who remain anonymous and have never traded over here and confiscate those companies. If nobody is willing to report them and its true, a none trading company has to be reported before something can be done, then all they need to do is set up a registered company, make a few transactions whilst finding the culprits, of which they have full knowledge and reporting them!

https://news.sky.com/story/spy-poiso...years-11287880

Very worrying and confusing, certainly so for those affected.

I don't know that our current administration would retaliate against Russia, but I'm sure one of our future presidents (especially if a Democrat gets elected) probably will for interfering in our elections. The best revenge though is succeed at building cultural resilience. If the US and UK can resolves it's internal problems, then there's not really much harm that a foreign adversary can do (politically anyway)... but if we can't even stop arguing with each other, then how are we ever going to be able to deal with any foreign interference?... it would seem we are quite vulnerable there.

Could whoever did it have picked more russian sounding nerve agent....im going for mi5 or mi6 involvement because of the botched attempt...russia dont mess up like this.

Well you never know.Russia has asked for samples to test I presume but we’re refusing to give them any.

I would be happier if an outside source tested it...iceland perhaps.

Yes we are. Now we've completely disbanded the British Army of the Rhine, Russia seems to be at her most provocative. It was only three years ago that they announced to the world that they have "the grandfather of all bombs" while we're paring down our armed forces and risk a leader who probably wouldn't renew Trident, let alone launch it.

Peter Hitchins made a good point the other day:

We have to ask what lengths we are willing to go to over a spy who we recruited to harm his own country for nearly a decade. Do we have the appetite for a new cold war?

If it was a one off, it would probably be an overreaction, but it isn't a one-off. British Citizens' lives were put at risk on home soil and if something isn't done it's a licence for more attacks. Look at the derision with which the Russians treated this incident.

Just saw a huge military transport plane coming from the airport.Think it was a C-17 training.Hoping They’re not preparing for something:eek: