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.
New York City is using ranked choice voting in its Democratic mayoral primary election. Here's how it works.
Former congressman Billy Long of Missouri has been confirmed to lead the Internal Revenue Service, an agency he once sought to abolish.
Top Democratic strategist David Plouffe is joining Coinbase as an adviser as the cryptocurrency exchange broadens its political reach.
The director of national intelligence says artificial intelligence is speeding up the work of America's spy services.
Elon Musk is dialing back his threat to decommission a capsule used to take astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA. T
President Donald Trump is threatening to cut Elon Musk’s government contracts as their fractured alliance rapidly escalated into a public feud.
President Donald Trump wants his “big, beautiful” bill of tax breaks and spending cuts on his desk to be singed into law by Independence Day. And he’s pushing the slow-rolling Senate to make it happen sooner rather than later. Trump met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the White House early this week and has been dialing senators for one-on-one chats, using both the carrot and stick to encourage them to act. But it’s still a long road ahead for the bill. Senators want to make changes to protect Medicaid and to make sure some tax breaks become permanent. Elon Musk called the whole bill a "disgusting abomination.”
China has blasted the U.S. for issuing AI chip export control guidelines, stopping the sale of chip design software to China, and planning to revoke Chinese student visas.
Would U.S. companies go back to Russia if there’s a peace deal over Ukraine?
The explosive growth of the data centers is eliciting some pushback.
