Labour leader says UK needs more proof of where nerve agent came from, as Russian diplomats leave embassy

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Jeremy Corbyn has said he would still do business with Vladimir Putin, as Russian diplomats expelled from the UK over the poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter leave the embassy in London.

Speaking as ministers considered whether to introduce more sanctions against Russia over the attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, the Labour leader suggested they should wait for evidence before imposing further measures.

And in an interview with the BBC to be broadcast later on Tuesday, Corbyn again stopped short of blaming the Kremlin for the attack.

“What I’m saying is the weapons were made from Russia, clearly,” he told Radio 4’s World at One. “I think Russia has to be held responsible for it, but there has to be an absolutely definitive answer to the question: where did the nerve agent come from?”

Corbyn added: “All fingers point towards Russia’s involvement in this, and obviously the manufacture of the material was undertaken by the Russian state originally.”

A convoy of buses and people carriers left the embassy in London at around 10am on Tuesday. The passengers included the 23 diplomats expelled by Theresa May last week. Family members, some holding pet carriers, were also seen boarding the vehicles.

Embassy workers waved to the leaving diplomats and their families as the buses pulled away, a Reuters photographer at the scene said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest People leaving the Russian embassy in London on Tuesday. Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

In response to the prime minister’s action, Russia expelled 23 British diplomats on Saturday and closed the British Council in Moscow.

The UK’s national security council was meeting on Tuesday to consider any further measures against Russia.



In the Netherlands, staff at the Russian embassy in The Hague stood in tribute to their expelled colleagues on Tuesday. In a tweet, the Russian embassy in the Netherlands claimed the UK had been making life difficult for diplomats by delaying visa applications, even before the current dispute.

RussianEmbassyNL (@rusembassynl) Today we stand together with our friends and colleagues from @RussianEmbassy who have to leave 🇬🇧 Even before this crisis 🇬🇧 did all to make their work more difficult- not giving dip visas for 6-12 months! Our support in this difficult times to the families of our friends! pic.twitter.com/CkbhUPk6jg

The former Labour cabinet minister Andrew Adonis called on the government to expel Alexander Yakovenko, Russia’s ambassador to the UK, calling him a “cheap propaganda agent”.

Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) On further action against Russia, the ambassador should be expelled immediately after the disgraceful and contemptuous way he and his staff have behaved. He is a cheap propaganda agent with no interest whatever in promoting ‘diplomatic’ relations.

Corbyn’s earlier warning not to “rush ahead of the evidence” led to criticism from Conservatives and unease on his own frontbench.

In his latest remarks, Corbyn repeated his call for Russia to be sent samples of the nerve agent novichok to help determine its source.

“I asked the Russians be given a sample so that they can say categorically one way or the other,” he said.

The Skripals remain in a stable but critical condition after being exposed to novichok more than two weeks ago.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has previously said Labour agreed with May that Russia was responsible for the attack. He also described the poisoning as a “state execution”.

But Corbyn maintained there had to be a relationship with Russia and said he would still “do business” with President Putin if Labour came to power.

“Would I do business with Putin? Sure. And I’d challenge him on human rights in Russia, challenge him on these issues and challenge him on that whole basis of that relationship,” he told the BBC.

On Monday, May hit back at Putin’s dismissal of her claim that Russia was responsible for the attack.

Her comments followed strong words from Boris Johnson, who accused Russia of trying to conceal “the needle of truth in a haystack of lies” about the case.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the foreign secretary said the use of a nerve agent against the Skripals was “very deliberate”.

“The obvious Russian-ness of the weapon was designed to send a signal to anyone pondering dissent amid the intensifying repression of Mr Putin’s Russia,” he wrote.

“The message is clear: we will hunt you down, we will find you and we will kill you – and though we will scornfully deny our guilt, the world will know that Russia did it.”

