Prime Minister Theresa May has said the European Council is “standing together” on the Salisbury nerve agent attack as she warned the threat from Russia “respects no borders”.

Mrs May was speaking after winning the backing of EU leaders who accepted the only “plausible explanation” for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, was that Russia was responsible.

In a further development it emerged the European Union was recalling its ambassador to Moscow “for consultations”, although the move was not a formal sanction.

In a joint statement the council had said its members will “co-ordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities”.

Mrs May earlier set out a detailed account of the evidence which led the Government to point the finger of blame at the Kremlin during an EU summit in Brussels.

European Council president Donald Tusk said: “(The) European Council agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for Salisbury attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.”

Welcoming the support from the other 27 EU leaders, Mrs May said is was right they were standing together.

She said: “I welcome the fact that the EU Council has agreed with the United Kingdom Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attempted murder that took place on the streets of Salisbury and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

“The threat that Russia poses respects no borders and it is a threat to our values and it is right that here in the EU Council we are standing together to uphold those values.”

Meanwhile, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the European Union’s ambassador to Russia is being recalled to consult with Brussels over the attack.

Mr Rutte said the diplomat was being recalled as a “measure” and the move was not a “sanction” against Moscow.

The EU statement came as a welcome boost to Mrs May in her increasingly bitter stand-off with Moscow – and reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – could now follow Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.

On Monday foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc had issued a statement voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK, but stopping short of blaming the Russians.

In her address to the other 27 EU leaders over dinner, the Prime Minister set out the four pillars of evidence which the UK believe put Russia in the frame:

– The positive identification by experts at Porton Down of the specific chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent;

– The knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years and remains capable of doing so;

– Britain’s assessment that Russia views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

German chancellor Angela Merkel was one of several leaders to express solidarity with the UK after meeting Mrs May and France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the summit to discuss the incident.

Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite disclosed the she was considering following Britain’s example by expelling Russian spies from her country.

Resistance to a firmer line with Moscow apparently came from Greece, whose prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: “We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.”

Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the police officer exposed to the Novichok nerve agent had been discharged from hospital.

In a statement Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support, but acknowledged: “Normal life for me will probably never be the same.”

Meanwhile a Court of Protection judge has given doctors permission to take blood from the Skripals – who remain in a critical condition in hospital – and to provide samples to chemical weapons experts.

Mr Justice Williams said he had been asked to make decisions because Mr and Ms Skripal were unconscious and therefore unable to give their consent to blood samples being taken or tested.</s>BRUSSELS
• Britain is seeking help from other European countries to take action against Russian spy networks that could be preparing attacks similar to the nerve agent assault on a former Russian spy in England, diplomats said.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was expected to urge joint action among European Union states at a summit in Brussels yesterday, where she will also try to persuade the bloc's leaders to condemn Russia squarely over the attack in Salisbury, Reuters reported.

"Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom," Mrs May told reporters on arriving at the summit. "It's clear that the Russian threat does not respect borders and indeed the incident in Salisbury was a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours."

She accused Russia of the first known offensive use of a nerve toxin in Europe since World War II after former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a public bench in the English city on March 4.

In the worst crisis between the two powers since the Cold War, Mrs May has expelled 23 Russian diplomats who she says were spies working under cover. Moscow, which has denied involvement in the attack, has taken retaliatory steps.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said that she was already considering expelling Russian spies from her territory, according to Reuters.

"Britain says there are these networks that organise such things like Salisbury, that these networks exist across our borders, and that it would be good to go after them together," a senior EU diplomat said.

"They have been approaching EU states on that bilaterally and today May will tell EU leaders more."

Diplomats stressed that Mrs May was not seeking a formal or immediate EU strategy because the bloc has little joint competence on intelligence, meaning any such work would be done directly with other governments.

"There is movement among several willing states to do something together in reaction to Skripal," said another EU diplomat, adding that this would be done bilaterally outside the EU, so as not to press too hard those members of the bloc who are more worried about their ties with Moscow.

The British authorities say the Skripals have been critically ill since the attack with a Soviet-produced military-grade nerve agent, Novichok.

Russia's Ambassador to London, Mr Alexander Yakovenko, yesterday said that had Novichok been used, the Skripals would have died.

Speaking at a press conference at the Russian Embassy in London, Mr Yakovenko said Britain has provided no proof of Russia's alleged involvement in the nerve attack, the Anadolu Agency reported. "The burden of proof lies within the British authorities. By now, no facts have been presented either to the (international chemical weapon watchdog) OPCW, or us, or to the UK partners or to the public," he added.</s>The European Union has backed Britain over the Salisbury nerve agent attack, agreeing that the only plausible explanation is that Russia is responsible.

The decision came after Prime Minister Theresa May gave EU leaders at the European Council summit in Brussels a detailed account of the evidence which led the UK to point the finger of blame at Moscow.

In a late-night statement, the leaders of the EU’s 28 member states said they agreed with the UK assessment that “it is highly likely that the Russian Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.”

And they added: “We stand in unqualified solidarity with the United Kingdom in the face of this grave challenge to our shared security.”

The announcement came as reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – are considering following Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.

It marked a significant victory for Mrs May, who had faced reluctance from some EU countries with close links to Moscow, such as Greece and Bulgaria, to make a direct accusation against the regime of President Vladimir Putin.

Foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc issued a statement on Monday voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK, but stopping short of pointing the finger of blame at Moscow for the March 4 attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Addressing the other 27 EU leaders over dinner, Mrs May set out the four pillars of evidence which the UK believe put Russia in the frame:

– The positive identification by experts at Porton Down of the specific chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent;

– The knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years and remains capable of doing so;

– Britain’s assessment that Russia views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

Mrs May also shared top-grade UK intelligence on the attack with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the summit to discuss the international response to Salisbury.

Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite declared publicly that she was considering expelling Russian spies from her country.

But Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras was more cautious, saying: “We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.”

Arriving at the summit, Mrs May said she would tell fellow leaders that she sees the attack on Mr Skripal as part of a pattern of Russian aggression which threatens the continent’s democracies and requires a united response.

Wearing a white ribbon in commemoration of terror attacks in Westminster and Brussels, the Prime Minister said: “Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom when it attempted the murder of two people in the streets of Salisbury.

“I will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it is clear that the Russian threat doesn’t respect borders and indeed the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours from the western Balkans to the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, in London, Russia’s ambassador Alexander Yakovenko condemned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comparison between Mr Putin hosting this summer’s World Cup with Hitler’s 1936 Olympics.

“Nobody has the right to insult the Russian people, who defeated the Nazis,” he said.

Mr Yakovenko demanded evidence for Britain’s allegation that Russia was behind the Salisbury attack, saying official statements on the poisoning had been “wild” and the UK had “built its official position on pure assumptions”.

The response of the Government had created “serious problems” in the Russia-UK relationship, he said.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would tell other European Union leaders on Thursday that Russia posed a threat to the whole bloc, not only to Britain, following an attack using a military-grade nerve agent in England.

“Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom,” May told reporters on arriving at an EU summit. “It’s clear that the Russian threat does not respect borders and indeed the incident in (the town of) Salisbury was a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours.”</s>The police officer who was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury has been discharged from hospital.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey requested privacy for his family in a statement after leaving hospital for the first time since the 4 March attack.

He said his “life will never be the same again” following the Salisbury attack.

“People ask me how I am feeling, but there are really no words to explain how I feel right now,” he said.

“Surreal is the word that keeps cropping up and it really has been completely surreal.

“I have been so very overwhelmed by the support, cards and messages I have received. Everyone has been so incredible.

“Some days we’ve had about 300 messages from officers, the wider police family and the public. The level of support has been unbelievable and I’ve tried to respond to what I can, but I want to say I have really appreciated every single message.

“One thing that has lifted me throughout the last few weeks has been the public support the police service has received during this incident.

“All the stories of community spirit, from the local businesses providing food and hot drinks to the officers standing for endless hours on the cordons, to the members of the public just showing their support for our work - have been quite simply overwhelming to hear about.

“I want to pay tribute and give my absolute and heartfelt thanks to the staff of Salisbury District Hospital. The care I have received from the medical staff has been simply outstanding from day one – from the man that cleans the floor to the doctors giving the treatment. They have all been absolutely phenomenal. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough and just doesn’t convey the gratitude I feel for what they have done for me.

“I have spent all my time since the incident really focusing on trying to get better and trying not to think about anything else.

“But as I have begun to feel better, I have become aware of the widespread and enormous attention this whole incident has attracted.

“I find this really overwhelming. I am just a normal person with a normal life, and I don’t want my wife, children, family or I to be part of that attention. I do hope the public can understand that.”

READ MORE: Are there concerns about Russian interference in Indyref?

His discharge came as Theresa May presses for a united statement from the European Union condemning Russia for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

Foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc issued a statement on Monday voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK.

However, they stopped short of pointing the finger of blame at Moscow for the 4 March attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Arriving in Brussels today for a summit of the European Council, Mrs May said she would brief fellow leaders on the “brazen and reckless” use of chemical weapons on European soil and leave no doubt she sees it as part of a pattern of Russian aggression that requires a united response.

Britain has been pressing EU allies behind the scenes to follow its expulsion of 23 “undeclared intelligence officers” from Russia’s embassy in London by sending home Moscow’s spies in their own countries.

Mrs May is set to address the other 27 EU leaders over dinner on her belief Europe faces a challenge from Russia that will last many years and represents a threat to the continent’s democracy.

Wearing a white ribbon in commemoration of terror attacks in Westminster and Brussels, the Prime Minister said: “Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom when it attempted the murder of two people in the streets of Salisbury.

“I will be raising this issue with my counterparts today because it is clear that the Russian threat doesn’t respect borders and indeed the incident in Salisbury was part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbours from the western Balkans to the Middle East.”

Meanwhile, in London, Russia’s ambassador Alexander Yakovenko condemned Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson’s comparison between Mr Putin hosting this summer’s World Cup with Hitler’s 1936 Olympics as an “insult” to the Russian people.

Mr Yakovenko demanded evidence for Britain’s allegation Russia was behind the Salisbury attack, saying official statements on the poisoning had been “wild” and the UK had “built its official position on pure assumptions”.

At a press conference at his London residence, not far from Kensington Palace, he said: “We demand full transparency of the investigation and full cooperation with Russia and with the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons).”

Mr Johnson had escalated the war of words with Moscow by suggesting Vladimir Putin was hoping for a propaganda boost from this summer’s World Cup similar to that which Hitler sought in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Mr Yakovenko condemned the comments, saying: “Nobody has the right to insult the Russian people, who defeated Nazism.”

He said the comparison “goes beyond common sense”.

Mr Yakovenko added the response of the Government and various statements since the incident had created “serious problems” in the Russia-UK relationship.

He said: “What really worries me is that the way this campaign is being presented is very anti-Russian. It really creates serious problems for the UK itself.

“Because after two weeks of this kind of really wild statements, how are you going to talk to the Russians?

“Because as I said that was really very insulting to the Russian people. It’s not about government, we’re talking about people.”

READ MORE: Vince Cable humiliated as EU leaders disown call for new Brexit vote</s>Prime Minister Theresa May has said the European Council is “standing together” on the Salisbury nerve agent attack as she warned the threat from Russia “respects no borders”.

Mrs May was speaking after winning the backing of EU leaders who accepted the only “plausible explanation” for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, was that Russia was responsible.

In a further development it emerged the European Union was recalling its ambassador to Moscow “for consultations”, although the move was not a formal sanction.

In a joint statement the council had said its members will “co-ordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities”.

Mrs May earlier set out a detailed account of the evidence which led the Government to point the finger of blame at the Kremlin during an EU summit in Brussels.

European Council president Donald Tusk said: “(The) European Council agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for Salisbury attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.”

Welcoming the support from the other 27 EU leaders, Mrs May said is was right they were standing together.

She said: “I welcome the fact that the EU Council has agreed with the United Kingdom Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attempted murder that took place on the streets of Salisbury and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

“The threat that Russia poses respects no borders and it is a threat to our values and it is right that here in the EU Council we are standing together to uphold those values.”

Meanwhile, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the European Union’s ambassador to Russia is being recalled to consult with Brussels over the attack.

Mr Rutte said the diplomat was being recalled as a “measure” and the move was not a “sanction” against Moscow.

The EU statement came as a welcome boost to Mrs May in her increasingly bitter stand-off with Moscow – and reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – could now follow Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.

On Monday foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc had issued a statement voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK, but stopping short of blaming the Russians.

In her address to the other 27 EU leaders over dinner, the Prime Minister set out the four pillars of evidence which the UK believe put Russia in the frame:

– The positive identification by experts at Porton Down of the specific chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent;

– The knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years and remains capable of doing so;

– Britain’s assessment that Russia views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

German chancellor Angela Merkel was one of several leaders to express solidarity with the UK after meeting Mrs May and France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the summit to discuss the incident.

Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite disclosed the she was considering following Britain’s example by expelling Russian spies from her country.

Resistance to a firmer line with Moscow apparently came from Greece, whose prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: “We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.”

Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the police officer exposed to the Novichok nerve agent had been discharged from hospital.

In a statement Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support, but acknowledged: “Normal life for me will probably never be the same.”

Meanwhile a Court of Protection judge has given doctors permission to take blood from the Skripals – who remain in a critical condition in hospital – and to provide samples to chemical weapons experts.

Mr Justice Williams said he had been asked to make decisions because Mr and Ms Skripal were unconscious and therefore unable to give their consent to blood samples being taken or tested.</s>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would tell other European Union leaders on Thursday that Russia posed a threat to the whole bloc, not only to Britain, following an attack using a military-grade nerve agent in England.

"Russia staged a brazen and reckless attack against the United Kingdom," May told reporters on arriving at an EU summit. "It's clear that the Russian threat does not respect borders and indeed the incident in (the town of) Salisbury was a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe and its near neighbors."

 

 (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Gareth Jones)</s>Prime Minister Theresa May has said the European Council is “standing together” on the Salisbury nerve agent attack as she warned the threat from Russia “respects no borders”.

Mrs May was speaking after winning the backing of EU leaders who accepted the only “plausible explanation” for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, was that Russia was responsible.

In a further development it emerged the European Union was recalling its ambassador to Moscow “for consultations”, although the move was not a formal sanction.

In a joint statement the council had said its members will “co-ordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities”.

Mrs May earlier set out a detailed account of the evidence which led the Government to point the finger of blame at the Kremlin during an EU summit in Brussels.

European Council president Donald Tusk said: “(The) European Council agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for Salisbury attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.”

Welcoming the support from the other 27 EU leaders, Mrs May said is was right they were standing together.

She said: “I welcome the fact that the EU Council has agreed with the United Kingdom Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attempted murder that took place on the streets of Salisbury and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

“The threat that Russia poses respects no borders and it is a threat to our values and it is right that here in the EU Council we are standing together to uphold those values.”

Meanwhile, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the European Union’s ambassador to Russia is being recalled to consult with Brussels over the attack.

Mr Rutte said the diplomat was being recalled as a “measure” and the move was not a “sanction” against Moscow.

The EU statement came as a welcome boost to Mrs May in her increasingly bitter stand-off with Moscow – and reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – could now follow Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.

On Monday foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc had issued a statement voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK, but stopping short of blaming the Russians.

In her address to the other 27 EU leaders over dinner, the Prime Minister set out the four pillars of evidence which the UK believe put Russia in the frame:

– The positive identification by experts at Porton Down of the specific chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent;

– The knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years and remains capable of doing so;

– Britain’s assessment that Russia views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

German chancellor Angela Merkel was one of several leaders to express solidarity with the UK after meeting Mrs May and France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the summit to discuss the incident.

Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite disclosed the she was considering following Britain’s example by expelling Russian spies from her country.

Resistance to a firmer line with Moscow apparently came from Greece, whose prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: “We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.”

Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the police officer exposed to the Novichok nerve agent had been discharged from hospital.

In a statement Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support, but acknowledged: “Normal life for me will probably never be the same.”

Meanwhile a Court of Protection judge has given doctors permission to take blood from the Skripals – who remain in a critical condition in hospital – and to provide samples to chemical weapons experts.

Mr Justice Williams said he had been asked to make decisions because Mr and Ms Skripal were unconscious and therefore unable to give their consent to blood samples being taken or tested.</s>For a war zone veteran who as U.K. national security adviser deals daily with terrorist threats, cyber attacks and now the use of a Russian nerve agent on British soil, Mark Sedwill is a very good sleeper.

When he flies long haul for work, the 53-year-old reclines his business class seat, wraps up in a blanket, pulls his seat-belt tight — and meditates. Sedwill drifts into unconsciousness with the same kind of professional efficiency that has won him the total trust of Prime Minister Theresa May.

This week, he proved his worth again.

May faced an uphill struggle to convince European Union allies to join her in blaming Russia for the March 4 poisoning of a former double agent in the provincial town of Salisbury, England. Sergei Skripal, as well as his daughter Yulia, remain hospitalized in critical condition.

Based on comments from EU leaders, and interviews with officials as well as diplomats — some speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information — this article traces how May persuaded the bloc to unite behind her hard line on Russia. This was a task viewed as a critical test of the U.K.’s ability to rally international support after Brexit.

Several EU countries including Lithuania and Latvia, once unwilling members of the Soviet Union, and the Czech Republic said they’re considering following Britain’s lead and expelling Russian intelligence operatives. Others raised doubts, though they still signed up to the tough language in the collective communique from this week’s EU summit in Brussels.

When May said on March 12 that Russia was “highly likely” to blame for the attack, it was imperative for Britain to find international allies to back up her assessment. That need became urgent two days later when she ordered the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats who she said were actually spies.

Yet support was slow to materialize. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, first gave a muted response — while still expressing shock and sympathy with the British. Some suggested Macron wanted more evidence before committing himself to blaming the Kremlin, though one official familiar with the matter said this interpretation was mistaken and that the French leader was solidly supportive from the start.

On March 15, May won some breathing space with a coordinated joint statement from herself, Merkel, Macron and President Donald Trump, saying they were “horrified” by the attack and shared the British assessment that there was “no plausible alternative explanation” to Russia being responsible.

After British officials made their case to the United Nations and to NATO, they turned their attention to the EU. Despite the U.K. leaving, May has said she wants to maintain close security ties to the bloc after Brexit, and the Skripal case was a test of that policy.

Leading up to this week’s EU summit, British officials worked overtime to explain the nature of the Russian attack to members. Doubters were said to include Greece, Hungary and Italy.

This is when Sedwill showed his value to May, traveling with his team to Brussels to share detailed intelligence in person. Specifically, he told each one of the 27 other EU member states exactly which so-called Russian Novichok nerve agent was used in the attack.

The U.K. had two key objectives: to persuade all EU leaders to sign up to a tough statement blaming Russia explicitly for the attack; and to help individual countries understand the need to take down Putin’s spy networks — potentially by expelling agents posing as legitimate diplomats in the way May had done.

But despite Sedwill’s efforts, British lobbying appeared to be coming up short. By Wednesday, the day before the summit opened, the language contained in draft conclusions that leaders would sign up to was weak. Rather than blaming Russia directly, it said that the summit “takes extremely seriously” the U.K.’s assessment that Putin’s government was responsible.

So now it was May’s turn.

When she arrived at the Europa Building in Brussels on Thursday afternoon, May met with Nordic-Baltic allies, including the leaders of Denmark, Sweden, Latvia and Lithuania. These countries understand the threat posed by Russia in their immediate neighbourhood and gave May their backing.

At 7.15 p.m., May met her staunchest security allies in the EU — Macron and Merkel. She updated them on the U.K.’s investigation into the nerve-agent attack, and it was this short meeting that provided the crucial template for the broader late-night discussions that followed.

The three leaders agreed that the EU must send “a strong European message in response to Russia’s actions,” the British government said in a statement afterward.

All the EU leaders then gathered for dinner in the summit centre, and at 8.30 p.m., the prime minister made her pitch.

“What happened in Salisbury on March 4 was not only a crime against the Skripals or the people of Salisbury,” May said. “It was an attack on the rules-based system and European values which all of us hold dear. The depth of outrage across Europe is a clear recognition of this.”

Macron and the Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar supported her, arguing for tougher language to be included in the summit text. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pushed for a “strong response, one showing solidarity” with the U.K. over the “scary” attack, he said later.

Again May met resistance from others. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras seemed the most uncomfortable. He spoke to Putin by phone for half an hour on Thursday, congratulating him on his re-election. An official said there was “good chemistry” between the two leaders and revealed that Putin had invited Tsipras to visit the Kremlin.

During the dinner, the Greek premier questioned whether the leaders’ summit was the right forum to go into a criminal investigation of this kind. He opposed hardening the language of the summit conclusions, and cautioned that the EU’s declaration must not be so strong as to make sanctions inevitable.

Italian premier Paolo Gentiloni also had doubts, according to some diplomats, along with Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who argued against recalling ambassadors from Moscow on the grounds that May had left the British envoy in place.

Shortly after the summit ended, Gentiloni told reporters he endorsed the EU’s decision, but cautioned against an escalation or closing off the dialogue with Russia.

The debate over dinner was sober and intense, and lasted more than two hours without an agreement. To those in the room, it appeared that May and her two chief allies — Macron and Merkel — had agreed on tactics beforehand.

The German chancellor, so often the linchpin of the EU, then made two interventions, arguing firmly that the bloc must not shy away from laying the blame where the evidence pointed: At the Kremlin door.

Then at 10:41 p.m., European Council President Donald Tusk announced an agreement. He set out the key phrases in a tweet he posted while sitting at the dinner table: “EUCO agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for #SalisburyAttack and that there is no other plausible explanation.”

May’s officials were delighted — and surprised. Persuading the EU to take such a line as a group of 28 individual countries can take months. The bloc even went further, taking the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to Moscow for talks on the crisis.

By Friday morning, several leaders were openly discussing how they would follow words with deeds, which could include expelling Putin’s spies from their own territories. In his summing up, Tusk suggested some countries will announce their next steps on Monday.

“It’s not the end of our actions,” he said.</s>Prime Minister Theresa May has said the European Council is “standing together” on the Salisbury nerve agent attack as she warned the threat from Russia “respects no borders”. Mrs May was speaking after winning the backing of EU leaders who accepted the only “plausible explanation” for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, was that Russia was responsible. In a further development it emerged the European Union was recalling its ambassador to Moscow “for consultations”, although the move was not a formal sanction.

In a joint statement the council had said its members will “co-ordinate on the consequences to be drawn in the light of the answers provided by the Russian authorities”.

Mrs May earlier set out a detailed account of the evidence which led the Government to point the finger of blame at the Kremlin during an EU summit in Brussels.

European Council president Donald Tusk said: “(The) European Council agrees with UK government that highly likely Russia is responsible for Salisbury attack and that there is no other plausible explanation.”

Welcoming the support from the other 27 EU leaders, Mrs May said is was right they were standing together.

She said: “I welcome the fact that the EU Council has agreed with the United Kingdom Government’s assessment that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the attempted murder that took place on the streets of Salisbury and that there is no plausible alternative explanation.

“The threat that Russia poses respects no borders and it is a threat to our values and it is right that here in the EU Council we are standing together to uphold those values.”

Meanwhile, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the European Union’s ambassador to Russia is being recalled to consult with Brussels over the attack.

Mr Rutte said the diplomat was being recalled as a “measure” and the move was not a “sanction” against Moscow.

The EU statement came as a welcome boost to Mrs May in her increasingly bitter stand-off with Moscow – and reports suggested that as many as five EU countries – France, Poland and the three Baltic states – could now follow Britain’s lead by expelling suspected Russian spies.

On Monday foreign ministers of the 28-nation bloc had issued a statement voicing “unqualified solidarity” with the UK, but stopping short of blaming the Russians.

In her address to the other 27 EU leaders over dinner, the Prime Minister set out the four pillars of evidence which the UK believe put Russia in the frame:

– The positive identification by experts at Porton Down of the specific chemical used as a type of Novichok nerve agent;

– The knowledge that Russia has produced this agent within the last 10 years and remains capable of doing so;

– Britain’s assessment that Russia views defectors as suitable targets for assassination.

German chancellor Angela Merkel was one of several leaders to express solidarity with the UK after meeting Mrs May and France’s president Emmanuel Macron on the margins of the summit to discuss the incident.

Lithuania’s president Dalia Grybauskaite disclosed the she was considering following Britain’s example by expelling Russian spies from her country.

Resistance to a firmer line with Moscow apparently came from Greece, whose prime minister Alexis Tsipras said: “We have to express solidarity to the British people for the Salisbury case, but we also need to be responsible on that issue.”

Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that the police officer exposed to the Novichok nerve agent had been discharged from hospital.

In a statement Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey said he had been “overwhelmed” by the messages of support, but acknowledged: “Normal life for me will probably never be the same.”

Meanwhile a Court of Protection judge has given doctors permission to take blood from the Skripals – who remain in a critical condition in hospital – and to provide samples to chemical weapons experts.

Mr Justice Williams said he had been asked to make decisions because Mr and Ms Skripal were unconscious and therefore unable to give their consent to blood samples being taken or tested.
British Prime Minister Theresa May calls the incident "part of a pattern of Russian aggression against Europe" and promises to raise the matter at an upcoming European Union summit.