Officials said Tuesday Prime Minister Theresa May is reviewing a range of economic and diplomatic measures.
LONDON (AP) — The Latest on the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
Britain’s representative to the global chemical weapons watchdog says Russia has “failed for many years to declare chemical weapons development programs which date from the 1970s” and London has demanded that Moscow now “come clean.”
Ambassador Peter Wilson told reporters Tuesday that London wants “Russia to declare these programs now.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday that a military-grade nerve agent was used in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia, and that Russia was “highly likely” to blame.
Wilson also refuted a claim by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Britain would be breaching the treaty that outlaws chemical weapons if it refuses to share with Moscow samples of the nerve agent.
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3:35 p.m.
Britain’s media regulator says Kremlin-backed news channel RT could lose its license to broadcast in the U. K. in the wake of the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal.
The channel has repeatedly been criticized by regulator Ofcom for breaching impartiality standards, and some British lawmakers have called for it to be shut down.
The regulator said Tuesday that it has a duty “to be satisfied that broadcast licensees remain fit and proper to hold their licenses.”
Ofcom said it had written to ANO TV Novosti, which holds RT’s U. K. broadcast licenses, saying that if Russia is found to be behind the attack, “we would consider this relevant to our ongoing duty to be satisfied that RT is fit and proper.”
Britain has given Russia until midnight Tuesday to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent came to be used in an English city, or face retaliatory measures.
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3:10 p.m.
Denmark’s prime minister has said “the use of chemical weapons in a peaceful English town… brings back memories of the Cold War.”
Lars Loekke Rasmussen was commenting Tuesday on the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in southern England.
Loekke Rasmussen told Denmark’s TV2 that his country would consult “with our allies what countermeasures it can lead to.”
The Danish government leader also expressed “sympathy with the people affected and solidarity with Britain.”
May told Britain’s Parliament it is “highly likely” Russia was to blame for the March 4 attack. British police and intelligence reports say that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripals were poisoned by a military grade nerve agent produced in Russia.
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2:50 p.m.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says it has handed the British ambassador a note of protest regarding the accusations leveled against Moscow over last week’s poisoning of an ex-Russian spy.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain hospitalized in critical condition after being exposed to a military-grade nerve agent.
British Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed retaliatory measures if Russia offers no explanation for how the nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union came to poison the former spy and his daughter in a British city.
The Russian Foreign Ministry says it has summoned British Ambassador Laurie Bristow and handed him a protest note over the “baseless accusations” leveled against Russia. The ministry dismissed the reaction of British authorities to the attack as “provocative” and said it suspects the poisoning is “another unscrupulous attempt of the British authorities to discredit Russia.”
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2:30 p.m.
British police say the investigation into the chemical agent attack on a former Russian spy will last many weeks, and that they are not declaring a person of interest yet in the probe.
In a brief statement outside police headquarters, new counter-terror chief Neil Basu offered more details on the movements of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia before they were attacked in the English town of Salisbury on March 4. He appealed to the public to come forward if they saw the pair that day.
Basu says the public will see much police activity in and around the city over the coming days and that they should not be alarmed.
Basu also revealed for the first time that Skripal was a British citizen — a fact that might color the government’s response to the incident.
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2:15 p.m.
Germany’s foreign minister says Berlin is “very concerned” about the poisoning of the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in England and is voicing solidarity with Britain.
Sigmar Gabriel said in a statement that he spoke by phone Tuesday with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. He said that “we condemn this attack with a banned chemical weapon in the strongest terms.”
Gabriel said that the perpetrators must be brought to justice and added: “If it is confirmed that Russia is behind this, that would be a very serious matter.”
Gabriel is to be replaced as foreign minister by Heiko Maas, who is a member of the same party, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s new government takes office on Wednesday.
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1:45 p.m.
U. S. President Donald Trump has said “it sounds” like Russia was responsible for the poisoning of an ex-spy and his daughter in England.
Trump told reporters he will discuss the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in southern England with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday.
“It sounds to me that they believe it was Russia and I would certainly take that finding as fact,” Trump said. He added the U. S. will condemn Russia if it agrees with Britain’s findings.
His comments came after May told Parliament it is “highly likely” Russia was to blame for the attack.
British police and intelligence reports say that the Skripals were poisoned by a military grade nerve agent produced in Russia.
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12:40 p.m.
British police have cordoned off a parking lot ticketing machine in the southwestern city of Salisbury as authorities retraced the steps of a former Russian spy and his daughter targeted in a chemical weapons attack.
The ticketing machine near a shopping center in Salisbury, 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of London, was covered by a tent similar to those at other sites where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were seen during a March 4 excursion into the city.
A bench where the pair were found and markers for Skripal’s son and wife in a nearby graveyard are also beneath tents.
Authorities say the pair were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent and that Russia is “highly likely” to be behind it. Prime Minister Theresa May is demanding an explanation.
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12:25 p.m.
The French Foreign Ministry says the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain is “a totally unacceptable attack.”
Without mentioning Russia, the ministry said in a statement that France repeatedly expressed “its refusal of impunity for those who use or develop toxic agents.”
According to the statement, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, to express France’s solidarity to “a top and strategic ally.”
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12:20 p.m.
A senior European Union official is calling for an EU-wide response to the poisoning of a former spy amid questions over whether Russia is to blame.
European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said Tuesday that “we cannot have nerve gas being used in our societies. This should be addressed by all of us.”
He told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France, that “it is of the utmost importance that those who are responsible for what has happened see very clearly that there is European solidarity, unequivocal, unwavering and very strong.”
Timmerman’s appeal is a show of solidarity amid tense negotiations on Britain’s departure from the EU next year.
Ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent in England last week and remain in critical condition.
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Noon
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd says police and the domestic security service will look into a number of deaths in Britain that may be linked to Russia.
In a letter made public Tuesday, Rudd says the government takes seriously allegations that some 14 deaths may have some links to Russia.
“In the weeks to come, I will want to satisfy myself that the allegations are nothing more than that,” Rudd said. “The police and MI5 agree and will assist in that endeavor.”
BuzzFeed News reported in 2017 that some 14 deaths in Britain and the United States dating back to 2006 may have been linked to Russia. The cases include some prominent critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin including oligarch Boris Berezovsky and whistle-blower Alexander Perepilichny.
The list also includes former spy Alexander Litvinenko, killed by radioactive tea in 2006, a killing that British officials have linked to the Russian government.
