Ed West Ed West

Will Britain stand up to Russia?

A Russian man convicted of spying for Britain has mysteriously been taken ill due to an ‘unknown substance’ – I wonder who could be responsible?

Of course one can’t assume at this point, and the Russians will express bafflement as to why they’re being accused of poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. No doubt the London Embassy’s perky Twitter feed will make light of western paranoia in that surreal way international politics is conducted these days.

But then the Russians are suspected of 14 assassinations on British soil, the most bizarre case involving the expert who discovered the poison that killed Alexander Litvinenko, who himself died after apparently ‘stabbing himself repeatedly with two knives months after a trip to Russia’.

No doubt other prominent critics of Putin will accidentally brutally stab themselves in the stomach while shaving in future, in that rather theatrical way the Russians like.

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