“It sounds to me like it would be Russia based on all of the evidence they have. I don’t know if they’ve come to a conclusion,” said President Donald Trump, referring to an assessment from British authorities that Russia was likely behind the attack. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo Trump: 'It sounds to me' like Russia was behind U.K. nerve agent attack

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that it appears that Russia was behind the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy in Britain, but he stopped short of directly condemning the Kremlin until “we get the facts straight.”

“It sounds to me like it would be Russia based on all of the evidence they have. I don’t know if they’ve come to a conclusion,” Trump told reporters outside the White House, referring to an assessment from British authorities that Russia was likely behind the attack. “As soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them, we will condemn Russia or whoever it may be.”


On Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “highly likely” the Kremlin was behind the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergey Skripal. Skripal and his daughter were attacked last week in southern England with a nerve agent and remain in critical condition.

Trump said he will be speaking with May sometime Tuesday about the incident.

“It is now clear that Mr. Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of the type developed by Russia,” May said , adding that the attack was either directly or indirectly carried out by Russia.

On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared the Trump administration’s “fullest condemnation” of the attempted assassination but did not join May in blaming the Russian government for the act.

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“Look, we’ve been monitoring the incident closely, take it very seriously,” Sanders said. “The use of a highly lethal nerve agent against U.K. citizens on U.K. soil is an outrage. The attack was reckless, indiscriminate and irresponsible. We offer the fullest condemnation, and we extend our sympathy to the victims and their families and our support to the U.K. government. We stand by our closest ally and the special relationship that we have.”

May set a midnight deadline for the Kremlin to explain how a Russian nerve agent came to be used on British soil, but Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed the demand and instead insisted the U.K. comply with international norms by providing Russia with a sample of the chemical used in the attack.

“We have already made a statement that it’s all nonsense,” Lavrov said, after being challenged by a reporter to rule out Russia’s involvement in the attack. “We have nothing to do with this.”

Skripal, a retired Russian military intelligence officer, was jailed for 13 years by Russia in 2006 for spying for Britain. He was one of four prisoners released by Moscow as part of a spy swap in 2010.

