28 March 2018 10:53 am
Britain Tuesday hailed the mass expulsion of suspected Russian spies around the world as a “turning point” for the West’s attitude to a “reckless” Russia, as Moscow prepared
its response.
At least 116 alleged agents working under diplomatic cover were ordered out by 22 governments on Monday, dwarfing similar measures in even the most notorious Cold War spying disputes.
“Never before have so many countries come together to expel Russian diplomats,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson wrote in The Times daily, calling it “a “blow from which Russian intelligence will need many years to recover”. The expulsions were a response to the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
Russia has warned it is preparing a tit-for-tat response to those countries “pandering to British authorities” without, Moscow claims, fully understanding what had happened.
-LONDON AFP March27, 2018