LONDON, September 6. /TASS/. The UK Foreign Office has refused to provide details on the issue of introducing new sanctions against Russia in connection with the Salisbury poisoning incident.
"The PM [Theresa May] explained our position on sanctions on Russia in her speech. We will not be going into further detail at present," a spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office told TASS.
The British prime minister told the parliament on Wednesday that the UK would take steps to expand the EU’s sanctions against Russia. All restrictions against Russia would remain in force, May said.
UK Security Minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday that London would "use whatever means we have within the law and our capabilities" to "push back the Russian malign activity."
Britain claims that former Russian military intelligence officer convicted in Russia for spying for the UK Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were affected by a nerve gas of the Novichok class in Salisbury, England, on March 4. The British government claimed that Russia was highly likely involved in this incident. Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia had ever had programs for making such agents. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down has failed to establish the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.
The Daily Telegraph wrote on Thursday citing sources that London’s retaliation could include "cyber attacks, espionage and travel bans against individuals." "The Kremlin must be made to feel it cannot act with impunity. Russia must see that there is a price attached to what they do," a source told the paper.
The Times said the UK PM is "preparing a cyberwar against Russia’s spy network." According to a Whitehall source, the goal of these measures is to disrupt communications of the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff, which London blames for the Salisbury poisoning, and also to isolate its financing sources.