May warns EU of ‘Russian aggression’

Theresa May said she would tell her fellow EU leaders that “the Russia threat” did not respect borders, as she arrived for a summit in Brussels.
The UK PM said the nerve agent attack in Salisbury was “part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe”.
She will stress the UK’s commitment to European security, after it leaves the bloc in March 2019.
European leaders are also due to decide whether or not to agree the terms for a 21-month Brexit transition period.
Mrs May, who will not be present when the other EU leaders discuss Brexit on Friday, will brief her counterparts on Thursday on the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.
The European Council is expected to adopt conclusions condemning the attack, which the UK government has said the Russian state was culpable for – but which Russia denies.
The Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, said Britain had blamed Russia for the poisoning “without any evidence” and his country “cannot accept that”.
He also described as “totally irresponsible” the comments by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Wednesday that likened the public relations gains to President Putin from this summer’s Football World Cup in Russia to Adolf Hitler’s use of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
“Nobody has the right to insult the Russian people, who defeated Nazism and lost more than 25 million people, by comparing our country to Nazi Germany,” said Mr Yakovenko.
“It goes beyond common sense and we do not think British war veterans, including those of the Arctic convoys, would share this opinion.”
Arriving in Brussels on Thursday, Mrs May said: “Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom.
“It’s clear that the Russian threat does not respect borders and indeed the incident in (the town of) Salisbury was a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours from the Western Balkans to the Middle East.”
She added that, as the leaders remembered the victims of terrorist attacks in Westminster and Brussels, she would be “stressing the UK’s unconditional commitment to the future security of Europe”.
She said that the “very strong support being voiced for the UK” will be reflected at the meeting, but EU countries were not united in “being willing to point their finger at Russia” or taking further steps, such as expelling diplomats.
Mrs May will tell EU heads of state that although the attempted assassination of the Skripals took place on UK soil, the Russian threat does not respect borders and it places all European nations at risk.
Russia’s flagrant breach of international law represents a threat to the basis of democracy across Europe, she will add.
“As a European democracy, the UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and with Nato to face these threats together. United, we will succeed.”

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