It didn’t take much effort for the US and UK to make the EU fall in line in the Skripal case, Virginia State Senator Richard Black told RT. The bloc is a “soft dictatorship” in which only key players need to be swayed, he said.

The White House’s claims that it played a key role in making European countries act in unison when punishing Russia with expulsions over the Skripal saga might not just be bragging, Senator Black said.

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It is far simpler than it seems to coerce the majority of 28 EU member states to join in the wave of diplomatic expulsions, started by the UK, he said, arguing that once key nations comply, it triggers a domino effect.

“The EU is rather a soft dictatorship of all the nations of Europe. All you have to do is you have to be able to influence the key people in the EU, and then you’re able to control all of the national states of Europe,” Black said, noting that “when you have Great Britain and the US acting in concert, they essentially are able to control the EU.”

While there are exceptions to this rule that refused to follow the lead of EU powerhouses such as Germany and France in promptly expelling Russian diplomatic staff, the majority simply caved in to the pressure, he argued.

“Now I do know that Austria did break ranks and they say no, we’re not going to do this. Others have just fallen in line; they’re under too much pressure from the EU.”

Austria, along with Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Greece, Slovenia, and Slovakia, among others, have not joined in the Russian expulsion frenzy. The US has been leading the effort, ordering 60 Russian diplomats on Monday to leave the country, which accounts for nearly half of the total number of people set to be expelled by over 20 countries and NATO.

The United States calls on #Russia to accept responsibility for its actions and to demonstrate it is capable of living up to its international commitments and responsibilities as a member of the #UNSC to uphold international peace and security. https://t.co/3RIUNjYcBZpic.twitter.com/0BI47kjKjH — Department of State (@StateDept) 28 марта 2018 г.

According to Washington’s narrative, the diplomats, 12 of whom are serving at the Russia mission at the UN, are covert intelligence officers that pose a threat to national security.

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The global campaign to flog Russia is in full swing despite the lack of proof from the UK that Moscow was behind the alleged assassination of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter on March 4 in Salisbury.

Days after the incident, the UK rushed to unequivocally pin the blame on Russia, claiming that there could be “no alternative conclusion other than the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder” of the Skripals.

Meanwhile, an Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) team that arrived in the UK to analyze the substance (allegedly a military-grade toxic agent used in the poisoning), said last week that the results would be ready in at least three weeks’ time.

Black believes that such hurry in placing the blame on Russia is part of a “continuing march towards belligerency and conflict.”

US President Donald Trump seems to have backtracked on his promise to improve relations with Russia, which seriously deteriorated in the last months of Barack Obama’s presidency, according to Black.

“This has not occurred. None of his foreign policy promises have been observed,” he said, noting that the future seems even bleaker with Trump assembling “a war cabinet,” with notorious Bush-era war hawk John Bolton as National Security Advisor.

“He’s not a fan of peace. His desire is to see the world aflame in war. So this is a concern.”

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