British foreign minister Boris Johnson suggested on Thursday that corrupt Russians who owe their wealth to their ties with President Vladimir Putin could be targeted by British police in retaliation for a nerve attack on a Russian ex-spy.
Britain announced on Wednesday it was expelling 23 Russian diplomats over the Novichok nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Moscow denies any involvement and is expected to retaliate.
“What people want to see is some of the very rich people who are directly associated with Vladimir Putin … whose wealth can be attributed to their relationship with Vladimir Putin, it may be that the law agencies, that the police will be able to put unexplained wealth orders on them, to bring them to justice for their acts of gross corruption,” Johnson told BBC television in an interview on Britain’s response to the Skripal case.
NAN reports that Russian Foreign Ministry said it regarded the punitive measures as a gross provocation.
Moscow, therefore, vowed an imminent response to hostile moves by the UK authorities.
“`We regard the statement by Prime Minister May in the parliament on March 14 about ‘punitive’ measures against Russia under a false pretext of alleged involvement in the poisoning of S. Skripal and his daughter as an unprecedentedly gross provocation that undermines the foundations of a normal interstate dialogue between our countries,” the ministry said in a statement.
“We consider it categorically unacceptable and reproachful that the British government, while pursuing its unseemly political goals, opted for further serious aggravation of relations, announcing a whole set of hostile measures, including the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the country,” the ministry said.
The ministry also stressed that Russia’s appropriate response to hostile UK actions was imminent.
Earlier, the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce (RBCC) said May’s decision to impose additional punitive measures against Russia as a response to the Skripal case will mean a further deterioration in business relations between the two countries.
“We will have to see the new circumstances that emerge, but over recent years business between the two countries has deteriorated and there is no doubt that an event like this will have a further negative impact,” the chamber said in a statement.
The RBCC statement claimed that the participation of UK businesses in the Russian market has proved beneficial for the United Kingdom.
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