The UK has warned Russia that it will respond robustly to "malign state activity" at a UN hearing on the novichok attack.

Karen Pierce, the UK's ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council that the UK hopes to rebuild a strong partnership with Russia, but will take necessary action when its security is threatened.

She said: "We have fought alongside Russian troops in the Second World War.

"But we will respond robustly when our security is threatened, when the lives of our citizens are endangered, and when the norms and rules of international law, and the international system, are flouted in such a brazen and reckless manner.

"We stand with our partners and allies."


Novichok suspects caught on CCTV

Ms Pierce added that the UK is determined to combat hostile activities on British soil and protect British citizens.

"We will defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies," she said.

Leaders of the UK's allies have backed Theresa May's claim that the suspects in the Salisbury nerve agent attack are Russian spies.

Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with Mrs May agreeing with the British assessment that the operation was "almost certainly approved at a senior government level" in Moscow.

Image: Ruslan Boshirov (left) and Alexander Petrov have been named as suspects

The two men alleged to have been behind the March nerve agent poisoning - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - have been identified by the UK as members of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.

In the joint statement, the leaders said: "We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level. "

Image: Russia's ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, at the meeting

Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's ambassador to the UN, accused the UK of creating a "mendacious cocktail of facts".

Saying the council had just heard the "same repeated lies", he said: "We hoped today we'd hear something convincing that sheds light on this mysterious incident - unfortunately our expectations were not met once again.

"London needs this story for one purpose - to unleash a disgusting anti-Russian hysteria."

Image: Nikki Haley says no one is buying Russia's denials

US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, told the security council "no one is buying" Russia's repeated denials.

She said: "Rather than accept responsibility for its actions, the Russian government has offered only denials and counter-accusations.

"The Russian denials have followed a familiar script, from Crimea, to MH17, to the Donbass, to the killing of Litvinenko.

"The list goes on and on and the song is always the same: Russia is somehow never behind these incidents.

"But no one's buying it."

Viktoria Skripal: 'I do not know suspects'

Former GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were left critically ill after being exposed to the military grade nerve agent Novichok in Salisbury in March.

Detectives believe it is likely the two suspects, thought to be about 40 years of age, travelled under aliases and that Petrov and Boshirov are not their real names.

Image: Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess were poisoned with novichok

Officers have formally linked the attack on the Skripals to events in nearby Amesbury when Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, 45, were exposed to the same nerve agent.

Ms Sturgess died in hospital in July, just over a week after the pair became ill.