How to wipe the smirk off Putin’s face
Moscow is still claiming it’s not behind the poisoning attack on former Russian spy/British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia — and, anyway, no one can prove it. That cynicism should prompt the West to double- and triple-down on sanctions against the Putin regime.
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Russia hasn’t just violated the Chemical Weapons Convention; it has used these terror weapons in attacks on British soil.
Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s EU ambassador, actually dared to hint that Porton Down, Britain’s chemical-weapons research facility, might be at fault in the attack. Then, asked if he was actually saying Porton Down was responsible, he smirked: “I don’t know.”
President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, says that blaming Moscow is “nonsense,” as it destroyed all its chemical weapons back in 1992.
In fact, the Brits say they have proof Russia kept producing the military-grade nerve agent Novichok (fingered in the Skripal attack), including photos that show expansion of the Kremlin’s poison-making complex.
“We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purpose of assassinations, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok,” UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Sunday.
With a nod to O.J. Simpson, Putin insists he wants to help catch the real poisoners: “We are ready to cooperate, we said that straightaway, we are ready to take part in the necessary investigations” — provided there is “a desire from the other side.”
What gall. The right response is to go after the tens of billions that Putin’s cronies and their clans have stashed in the West. President Trump signed a new law last fall that aims to identify such hidden assets, but more legal changes are likely needed in both Britain and America to close loopholes that shield Russian money-laundering.
Hit Vlad & Co. where it hurts: in their privilege and their pocketbooks.