Translating into Chinese of the following article
Russian spy attack: Johnson welcomes allies'
support
Foreign secretary’s remarks precede Trump sacking of Tillerson, who had
criticised Moscow
The UK has been encouraged by the “strength of support” from allies to take
action against Russia after the nerve agent attack on a former spy and his
daughter, Boris Johnson said just hours before the US secretary of state, Rex
Tillerson, was sacked by Donald Trump.
Tillerson, who spoke to the foreign secretary on Monday afternoon, had told
reporters the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal “clearly came from Russia” and
would have consequences.
His remarks went further than those of Theresa May, who told the House of
Commons on Monday it was “highly likely” Russia was behind the attack. The White
House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, had stopped short of pointing the
finger at Russia.
Just hours after Johnson had welcomed US support, Trump tweeted that he had
replaced Tillerson with the CIA director, Mike Pompeo. The sacking may not be
linked to Tillerson’s comments on Russia; relations between the pair are
believed to have been deteriorating for some time, especially over the Iran
nuclear deal and Trump’s announcement that he would meet the North Korean
leader, Kim Jong-un.
It is unclear when Tillerson learned that his dismissal was imminent. It was
first reported he had known since Friday, which was denied by sources, and a
state department spokesman later said Tillerson “did not speak to the president
and is unaware of the reason” and later suggested he had read the news on
Twitter.
The US president said he would speak to the British prime minister about the
Salisbury poisoning on Tuesday.
Trump said: “It sounds to me like they believe it was Russia … I would certainly
take that finding as fact.” But he added: “If we get the facts straight we will
condemn Russia, or whoever it might be.”
Downing Street is hoping for a strong statement of support from Trump when he
speaks with May on Tuesday, having previously been encouraged by such direct
condemnation from Tillerson.
Skripal and his daughter remain in hospital in a critical condition while the
Wiltshire police detective sergeant Nick Bailey is in a serious but stable
condition.
Bailey is making good progress, Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism police
officer said. Delivering an update on the police investigation outside New
Scotland Yard on Tuesday, the Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner,
Neil Basu, said 38 people were seen by medical staff in the aftermath of the
“reckless, despicable and targeted” attack.
Of those, 34 have been assessed and discharged and one more person is still
being monitored as an outpatient but is not showing signs of illness.
Previously, police had said 21 people had been affected.
In an interview earlier on Tuesday, Johnson repeated May’s ultimatum to the
Kremlin that it must explain by midnight on Tuesday if it was behind the attack,
or if it had allowed the deadly nerve agent novichok to get into the wrong
hands.
“If they can come up with a convincing explanation, then obviously we will want
to see full disclosure of that to the Organisation for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons in The Hague,” Johnson said.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Russia had requested access to
the substance to perform its own checks but the request had been refused. May’s
spokesman hit back at Lavrov’s suggestion that Britain could be violating the
chemical weapons convention.
“The UK fully complies with all of its obligations under the chemical weapons
convention,” the spokesman said. “Under the chemical weapons convention, states
have the mechanism to consult but there is no requirement to do so.”
May updated her cabinet on the unfolding investigation into the Salisbury
attack, telling ministers there was “no doubt of the severity” of what had taken
place.
Should Russia give no credible explanation, the UK is likely to expel a number
of diplomats, more than the four who were told to leave the UK after the death
of the former Russian security agent Alexander Litvinenko. The UK may also mount
a covert cyber-offensive against the Kremlin.
Any direct action may be covered under article 51 of the UN charter, which
allows legitimate self-defence, but Downing Street denied May was trying to win
support to invoke article 5 of the Nato treaty on common defence.
The government may also decide to formally support amendments to the sanctions
and anti-money-laundering bill to target the persecutors of Sergei Magnitsky, a
Russian accountant who died after he revealed a major state-sponsored fraud.
The measures, which the Foreign Office has previously resisted, saying it
already has the full confiscatory powers it needs, are highly symbolic, having
been already adopted by the US, but ministers are likely to support a specific “Magnitsky
clause” in the bill at report stage.
Ministers may also consider whether to direct the broadcasting regulator, Ofcom,
to investigate whether Russian media outlets, such as RT, are fit to hold
broadcasting licences and whether senior officials could be told to boycott the
football World Cup in Russia this summer.
Russia has denied being behind the attack on Skripal, a former double agent who
came to the UK in a spy swap in 2010, and his daughter.
During an election campaign trip, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin,
dismissed questions about the Skripals when confronted by the BBC, saying: “Get
to the bottom of things there, then we’ll discuss this.”
The UK’s national security council was expected to meet on Wednesday to discuss
the Russian response before the prime minister updates MPs. The home secretary,
Amber Rudd, chaired a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee in
Whitehall on Tuesday morning to discuss the latest developments.