Attempted murder of russians in Salisbury

[Poppy]

This brutal act which not only has led to both russians still being critical in Hospital but also one of the UK policeman still in a serious condition has appalled everyone in the UK. The nerve agent has been identified as Novicheck which was developed by the Soviet Union in the 70's and appears to be the most lethal of all nerve agents.
Putin is denying all knowledge and brazenly threatening the UK and at the moment it seems that we have little support from others ( except for good old Rex who has now been sacked!)

I have said it before and I will say again Russia are a very dangerous threat to everyone and if the rest of the world do nothing to stand against him I dread to think of the future.

[Firefly]

Poppy

Very true, Putin is a very dangerous man. Obviously he's denying any involvement, he's hardly likely to admit it. The world will hopefully be a safer place when he's no longer in power. How long we will have to wait for that to happen, who knows.

[ApusApus]

Unfortunately, I'm sure there are many other unsavoury characters waiting to succeed him given the chance ............... unless he manages to do a Xi Jinping & change the constitution!


Shane

[Jimgward]

We now have the ex head of the CIA as Secretary of State for the US, who will have to meet with Putin, the ex head of the Russian equivalent. I'm sure that will be an interesting meeting, with full trust on both sides......

[WHL]

You sign up to be a spy, then dont be surprised when others try and bump you off.... other jobs out there less dangerous.....every secret service of every country on the planet.. bump their enemy's off...it is what it is

[Dominic]

I think it's not so much the death of the spy that has irked the UK, but the fact that the perpetrators didn't seem to care who else got caught in the crossfire.

[WHL]

I think it's not so much the death of the spy that has irked the UK, but the fact that the perpetrators didn't seem to care who else got caught in the crossfire.

I feel sorry for the Policeman and any innocents that got caught up in it..but espionage is a nasty business, and I wonder how many this guy sent to their deaths...im sure as we speak, some UK agent is having a drink with a Russian spy saying, come on Boris old chap, I know we have to get rid of people from time to time..theres ways to get rid of people but this isnt one of them...to much mess.

[Firefly]

How did they get the nerve agent into the UK ? The tight regulations at the airports would surely have detected something. Maybe via 'diplomatic immunity' !

[Poppy]

The point is if you want to dispose of russian ex spys etc then you don't do it on our soil! Besides his daughter and the policeman some 30 other people have needed to receive hospital treatment.
This is an utterly despicable act and our government have just advised their very appropriate and strong response and I have to say that it was good to see that all political parties supported the Prime Minister this afternoon,the only individual who did not was Jeremy Cornyn and his back benches were very quick to distance themselves from his stupid comments and support the PM! Ian Blackford,who is normally very vocal against the Tory' s,also offered his full support and I believe TM herself was heartened by so much support from the entire house bar JC!
Australia,Canada,EU,America have promised their support and if they follow our lead in expulsions and financial restrictions it could just affect Cyprus.

[Firefly]

Jeremy might be a friend of Putin's, he's got previous for having dangerous friends.

[WHL]

And the the UK dosnt dispose of agents on foreign soil .... its what agents do

[Poppy]

Facts and figures please WHL instead of wild accusations

[WHL]

Facts and figures please WHL instead of wild accusations

Give me a couple of days, while I email MI6 HQ and ask them to send me all the facts and figures, because Poppy wants them.

[Poppy]

If you cannot substantiate such wild allegations then it might be best to say nothing. This is a very serious situation which has succeeded in getting all UK political parties to agree the way forward and may I remind you that the implications could also affect many other countries including Cyprus.It most definitely is not a joking matter.

[WHL]

If you cannot substantiate such wild allegations then it might be best to say nothing. This is a very serious situation which has succeeded in getting all UK political parties to agree the way forward and may I remind you that the implications could also affect many other countries including Cyprus.It most definitely is not a joking matter.

Yep and you probably still think the Moons made of Cheese

[Poppy]

I don't know what exactly you are implying WHL but may I remind you that this is the Politics for Moderates section and supposedly not for derogatory remarks.

[Dominic]

Facts and figures please WHL instead of wild accusations

Isn't the gist of this thread a wild accusation? Or have they actually produced evidence showing it was state sponsored?

[ApusApus]

Sorry, but do you really think that any evidence will actually be released into the "public" domain? National interest & security springs to mind!


Shane

[Poppy]

Yes Dominic they have evidence that this particular nerve agent was produced in Russia.Do you really think that the Government and all the political parties are so stupid that they would take such serious measures without proof? They are not wild accusations and people are critically ill in hospital.Have you really heard of any,I repeat any,of poisonings or murders by any British agents on Russian soil? I think not.
If you want to bury your heads in the sand and believe that Russia can do no wrong then so be it.

[Dominic]

Being produced in Russia is one thing. The question is, did the Russian State order the hit? Is there any evidence of that? I don't think there is. As far as I concerned, they most likely did, but there is no evidence to say that they did. That was my point. Poppy, you asked WHL for facts and figures. As Shane points out, that's not likely to happen. But it's unlikely that there will be any facts and figures linking the Russian State to this either, other than that the weapon of choice was originally made in Russia. But to blame the Russian State without proof is like blaming the UK government because somebody in Yemen was killed in mysterious circumstances with a UK-manufactured weapon.