Jeremy Hunt warns Russia: ‘The price will be too high’

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has used a Sky News interview to tell Russia “the price will be too high” if it continues to act against international norms.

Mr Hunt suggested Moscow will be wondering whether the Salisbury chemical weapons attack was “a smart thing to do”.

Speaking to The Kay Burley Show in New York, he revealed his “frank exchange of views” with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, during a “pretty tough” meeting at the UN General Assembly.

One of the Russian men accused of the Salisbury poisonings has recently been exposed as a military officer who received an honour from his country’s president, Vladimir Putin.

Mr Hunt said: “It is not acceptable for Russia to instruct two GRU agents to use chemical weapons on British soil, the first time it’s ever happened.

“This is a very significant thing and the significance isn’t about bilateral spats between Russia and the UK. We have international norms where you don’t use chemical weapons.

“After nuclear weapons, these are the most horrible weapons that you can use. Recently those norms have been changing.

“We’ve seen [Bashar] al Assad using them in Syria and now Russia using them on the streets of Britain.

“It would be a terrible step back for the world if we went to situation where using these horrible, horrible weapons just became normal and we don’t want that to happen; not for Britain’s sake, not for the world’s sake.

“Our message for Russia is very straightforward: If you do this, the price will be too high.”

Mr Hunt revealed he told Mr Lavrov that “countries like Russia and Britain need to be standing together to make the world a peaceful place”.

He added: “If one of us is sending army officers on the streets of the other using chemical weapons, that’s not going to happen and that is the wrong thing to do.”

The foreign secretary also suggested Russia felt like they “got away with” the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, and so may not have expected such a strong response from Britain over the Salisbury attack.

He said: “They can’t have been expecting Theresa May to put together a coalition that saw 153 Russian spies expelled from capitals in 28 countries across the world.

“So they paid a very high diplomatic price – but they need to understand that it will not be a comfortable place for Russia in the world if this is the way they behave.”

Mr Hunt admitted Moscow’s behaviour is “top of the list” of challenges he faces in his role but stressed there is not “any possibility of war” between Russia and the UK.

During a wide-ranging interview, the foreign secretary also addressed other areas of foreign policy; telling Iran there will be consequences if they continue to detain UK nationals such as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

He defended the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, claiming there have been “bombs that have not gone off in the streets of Britain” due to counter-terrorism co-operation between the two countries.

And, on Brexit negotiations, Mr Hunt called for a change in stance from the EU and warned people to not “underestimate” Mrs May.

Denying the prime minister’s Chequers plan for Brexit is “dead” after being rejected by Brussels, the foreign secretary said: “We cannot have a situation in the negotiation between a sovereign power like Britain… and the EU where every time we come up with a proposal, instead of engaging with that proposal they simply say, ‘I’m sorry that doesn’t work come back with something else’.

“Negotiations require two parties to engage seriously, that hasn’t been happening and Britain is not going to keep coming back with more.

“We have put on the table some practical proposals, which mean that we can honour the spirit and letter of the referendum and reassure businesses that they can have the frictionless trade that they want.

“They’re sensible proposals, we now need some engagement from the EU.”

(c) Sky News 2018: Jeremy Hunt warns Russia: ‘The price will be too high’