Theresa May to warn EU leaders of Russian threat to democracy - BBC News

22/3/2018
Theresa May to warn EU leaders of Russian threat to democracy

Theresa May will tell a summit of EU leaders in Brussels that they must remain united against a threat from Russia to all European democracies.

The prime minister will say the nerve agent attack in Salisbury shows Moscow has no respect for international law.

A senior Whitehall official said Russia had "shown itself to be a strategic enemy not a strategic partner".

European leaders are also due to decide whether or not to agree the terms for a 21-month Brexit transition period.

Mrs May, who will not be present when the other EU leaders discuss Brexit on Friday, will brief her counterparts on Thursday on the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

The European Council is expected to adopt conclusions strongly condemning the attack, which the UK government has said the Russian state was culpable for - but which Russia denies.

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The BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler said the meeting was the "first test of European support after 12 months of often bad tempered Brexit negotiations".

She said that the "very strong support being voiced for the UK" will be reflected at the meeting, but EU countries were not united in "being willing to point their finger at Russia" or taking further steps, such as expelling diplomats.

Mrs May will tell EU heads of state that although the attempted assassination of the Skripals took place on UK soil, the Russian threat does not respect borders and it places all European nations at risk.

Russia's flagrant breach of international law represents a threat to the basis of democracy across Europe, she will add.

But Mrs May will welcome the solidarity shown by allies across the world who have backed the UK's assessment that Russia is to blame for the attempted murders.

"As a European democracy, the UK will stand shoulder to shoulder with the EU and with Nato to face these threats together. United, we will succeed."

Meanwhile, the Whitehall official stressed that the UK's response to the Salisbury attack had been carefully calibrated to remain within the law, and that the UK is "not looking for some big confrontation with Russia or regime change".

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the UK's Culture Secretary Matt Hancock said it was "very important to stand up" to Russia over the attack, but the UK must "continue to engage" with the country.

He added: "We continue to engage with Russia because we seek a position where Russia does abide by internal rules and norms [and] where Russia is a grown-up player on the world stage abiding by the international app