Theresa May tells Putin to stop ‘hostile interventions’

Theresa May tells Putin to stop ‘hostile interventions’

Salisbury attack ‘formed part of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour and was a truly despicable act.’

6/28/19
British Prime Minister Theresa May shared an arctic handshake with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka Friday. According to a Downing Street spokesperson, May told Putin in the meeting that "there cannot be a normalization of our bilateral relationship until Russia stops the irresponsible and destabilizing activity that threatens the U.K. and its allies — including hostile interventions in other countries, disinformation and cyber attacks – which undermine Russia’s standing in the world." May also said the use of a deadly nerve agent on the streets of Salisbury "formed part of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour and was a truly despicable act." May said the U.K. "has irrefutable evidence that Russia was behind the attack" and such behavior "could never be repeated." The face-to-face came after the two leaders exchanged fire in separate interviews ahead of the summit.

May told ITV it would not be "business as usual" at her first meeting with Putin since the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury last year, which led to the death of a British citizen. "I expect those individuals to be brought to justice," said May, who conducted the interview in a Japanese theater barefoot in deference to the venue's rules. "I will be making my position very clear to President Putin." May's comments came after Putin gave a rare pre-summit interview to the Financial Times in which he downplayed the incident, saying: "Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopecks ... Yes, a man died, and that is a tragedy, I agree. But what do we have to do with it?" But he added that "treason is the gravest crime possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying that the Salisbury incident is the way to do it. Not at all. But traitors must be punished."

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I was originally of two minds about this, but on reflection and for the sake of consistency, I would rather that May had declined to meet with Putin. Similarly, I also reject the recent vote of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to welcome Russia back into the council with no strings attached. Russia had been suspended from PACE in late 2014 for illegally annexing Ukraine's Crimea oblast and invading eastern Ukraine. Since then, nothing has changed. Russia continues to occupy Crimea and continues to wage war in Ukraine's Donbas region. Appeasement of the Kremlin tacitly encourages Putin's expansionist agenda on the European continent. An international court at the Hague has ruled that Russia must pay Ukraine $2.6 billion in punitive damages for gas price-overcharging and forcing Ukraine to pay for a stipulated amount of gas regardless of whether or not Ukraine actually needs/uses the stipulated amount of Russian gas. Russia has ignored this court ruling. Recently, the International Maritime Court at the Hague ruled that Russia must immediately release and return 24 kidnapped Ukrainian sailors, and return 3 hijacked Ukrainian boats. Russia says it will not comply with the international court ruling. Russia has not fulfilled even one of its obligations under the Minsk II accord. Accountability is the stated reason why many PACE members claimed they had voted yes for Russia's return to the council. However, it makes no sense to appease Putin when he does not honor rulings by courts and organizations. I also suspect a few voted as they did for selfish reasons - Moscow owes PACE $60 million in back dues. Now the PACE member nations don't have to make up for this funding shortage. Rubbing salt into the wound, Moscow has stated some of its new PACE delegates will be appointed from annexed Crimea. You can plainly read above, Putin does not acknowledge Russia's responsibility in Salisbury, and ruminates that the murder of an innocent British citizen from a Russian chemical warfare agent (Novichok) is not worth 5 kopecks.

Related: The Council of Europe's surrender to Russia

She's on the way out, hardly matters what she says now nor will Putin care anyway.

While I agree with her in principle it is kinda like the robber saying to someone not to steal...

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Too little, too late. The Tories should have taken a bigger stand against Russian intervention during the lead-up to the Brexit referendum.

Rogue Valley said:

Theresa May tells Putin to stop ‘hostile interventions’

Salisbury attack ‘formed part of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour and was a truly despicable act.’

I was originally of two minds about this, but on reflection and for the sake of consistency, I would rather that May had declined to meet with Putin. Similarly, I also reject the recent vote of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to welcome Russia back into the council with no strings attached. Russia had been suspended from PACE in late 2014 for illegally annexing Ukraine's Crimea oblast and invading eastern Ukraine. Since then, nothing has changed. Russia continues to occupy Crimea and continues to wage war in Ukraine's Donbas region. Appeasement of the Kremlin tacitly encourages Putin's expansionist agenda on the European continent. An international court at the Hague has ruled that Russia must pay Ukraine $2.6 billion in punitive damages for gas price-overcharging and forcing Ukraine to pay for a stipulated amount of gas regardless of whether or not Ukraine actually needs/uses the stipulated amount of Russian gas. Russia has ignored this court ruling. Recently, the International Maritime Court at the Hague ruled that Russia must immediately release and return 24 kidnapped Ukrainian sailors, and return 3 hijacked Ukrainian boats. Russia says it will not comply with the international court ruling. Russia has not fulfilled even one of its obligations under the Minsk II accord. Accountability is the stated reason why many PACE members claimed they had voted yes for Russia's return to the council. However, it makes no sense to appease Putin when he does not honor rulings by courts and organizations. I also suspect a few voted as they did for selfish reasons - Moscow owes PACE $60 million in back dues. Now the PACE member nations don't have to make up for this funding shortage. Rubbing salt into the wound, Moscow has stated some of its new PACE delegates will be appointed from annexed Crimea. You can plainly read above, Putin does not acknowledge Russia's responsibility in Salisbury, and ruminates that the murder of an innocent British citizen from a Russian chemical warfare agent (Novichok) is not worth 5 kopecks.

Related: The Council of Europe's surrender to Russia

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I can certainly see why you would have preferred that May not meet Putin at all.

But since she is on the way out, it was her last opportunity to make a strong international political statement regarding the behavior of the Russians and Putin in particular.

This in the total absence of any American political leadership on these isssues, and indeed in the face of the fawning reverence that Donald Trump pays to the Russian dictator.

OrphanSlug said:

She's on the way out, hardly matters what she says now nor will Putin care anyway.

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And no matter who the next man is at Number 10, or any other future UK Prime Ministers - it will hardly matter to Putin, nor will he care.

Snazzy said:

And no matter who the next man is at Number 10, or any other future UK Prime Ministers - it will hardly matter to Putin, nor will he care.

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Yep.. Putin will only be worried about countries and organisations that can mount resistance and power against Russia and its allies. The UK outside the EU will no different than Argentina or South Africa.. Unimportant.

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Theresa Who?

Impressively sour face tho

Sven Karma said:

Theresa Who?

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not May, more like Won't.

Impressively sour face tho

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She's always been good for that.

The lame-duck angrily quacks at the haughty imperial eagle who takes no notice.

Cheers.
Evilroddy.

I think Putin just said 'Buh-bye, looser'

She took £200,000 in Russian "sponsorship" for the party last year. Turns out Johnson has a great Russian ex-FSB buddy called Mifsud. Named by the FBI as a Trump-Russia link. Bannon's on the scene too!

Manc Skipper said:

She took £200,000 in Russian "sponsorship" for the party last year.

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Dirty Russian money is quite prevalent in the UK, but the powers that be don't seem to be a bit concerned.