A day after the UK expelled almost a dozen Russian diplomats over an attempted murder on British soil, the Kremlin will most likely retaliate with “tit-for-tat expulsions,” said Jason Douglas, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal.
He said relations between the UK and Russia are now “at their worst since the Cold War.”
It all stems from the attempted poisoning on March 4 of a former Russian spy and his daughter, who have been living in Britain. The pair were exposed to a Russia-produced nerve agent known as Novichok and are now in hospital in critical condition.
This attack is the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since WWII, and the UK has declared that it is “highly likely” Russian authorities were behind it.
Novichok was first developed in the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. It is far more lethal than other poisons like VX, which is listed as a weapon of mass destruction and was used to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother.
On Thursday, UK allies including the U.S. came forward to condemn Russia for its alleged actions, saying “this threatens the security of us all.”
“There’s definitely a tough line from the international community,” said Douglas. “Whether that translates into firm action...is an open question. But it does seem that the UK has been pretty successful in corralling its allies.”
Also on Thursday, the Trump administration announced new sanctions against a number of Russian organizations and individuals for the country’s interference with the 2016 presidential elections.
The global community is now closely watching how Russia will handle this pressure from the West.
A car plowed into a parked SUV that was guarding President Joe Biden’s motorcade Sunday night while the president was leaving a visit to his campaign headquarters.
Negotiators insist they are making progress, but a hoped-for framework did not emerge. The talks come as Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner in 2024, delivered alarming anti-immigrant remarks about “blood” purity over the weekend, echoing Nazi slogans of World War II at a political rally.
The Supreme Court decided to leave in place a ban on semi-automatic weapons in the state of Illinois.
The Senate passed a bill giving retroactive pay increases to those service members who may have been affected by the hold on military promotions caused by Senator Tommy Tuberville.
Jurors are expected to resume deliberations this morning in a case that centers on how much Donald Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani must pay in his damages defamation trial.
President Biden said Israel needs to be more careful when it comes to civilian deaths in its war with Hamas as the next phase of the war is weeks away.
The White House has unveiled a list of 48 drugs that drugmakers will have to pay rebates to the federal government on due to raising their prices higher than the cost of inflation during this year.
The European Council announced it will open negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova to join the group.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said former President Trump's policies toward China have left the nation "more vulnerable" and more isolated in the global economy.
A federal grand jury in Montana has indicted two men accused of killing about 3,600 birds, including bald eagles and golden eagles, and selling them on the black market.
