Theresa May tells Putin to stop ‘hostile interventions’ :: Oleg Michman 25% �� 146% ☢️ ☣️⚠️ (@CASBT_UA) / Твіттер

Oleg Michman 25% �� 146% ☢️ ☣️⚠️ (@CASBT_UA) / Твіттер

Theresa May tells Putin to stop ‘hostile interventions’

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Isabella Borshoff

politico.eu

2 min

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Britain's PM Theresa May, meets Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, during a bilateral meeting on the first day of the G20 summit | Carl Court/Getty Images

British Prime Minister Theresa May shared an arctic handshake with Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of their meeting at the G20 summit in Osaka Friday.

According to a Downing Street spokesperson, May told Putin in the meeting that "there cannot be a normalization of our bilateral relationship until Russia stops the irresponsible and destabilising activity that threatens the U.K. and its allies — including hostile interventions in other countries, disinformation and cyber attacks – which undermine Russia’s standing in the world."

May also said the use of a deadly nerve agent on the streets of Salisbury "formed part of a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour and was a truly despicable act." May said the U.K. "has irrefutable evidence that Russia was behind the attack" and such behavior "could never be repeated."

The face-to-face came after the two leaders exchanged fire in separate interviews ahead of the summit.

May told ITV it would not be "business as usual" at her first meeting with Putin since the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury last year, which led to the death of a British citizen. The U.K. accused two officers of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency of carrying out the nerve-agent attack.

"I expect those individuals to be brought to justice," said May, who conducted the interview in a Japanese theater barefoot in deference to the venue's rules. "I will be making my position very clear to President Putin."

May's comments came after Putin gave a rare pre-summit interview to the Financial Times in which he downplayed the incident, saying: "Listen, all this fuss about spies and counterspies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopecks ... Yes, a man died, and that is a tragedy, I agree. But what do we have to do with it?"

But he added that "treason is the gravest crime possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying that the Salisbury incident is the way to do it. Not at all. But traitors must be punished."

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