Former Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko — who claims he was poisoned by Russia in 2004 — has supported the expulsion of Russia diplomats worldwide, but wants to see more action. Mr Yushchenko says he has no doubt Russia is responsible for the nerve agent attack in the UK. </s> Former Ukranian President, Victor Yushchenko pictured in 2005, soon after his poisoning (L) and in 2015 (R)

The former president of Ukraine has applauded the growing round of expulsions of Russian diplomats following the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, saying "I have no doubt" Moscow was behind the attack and that military action against Russia should not be ruled out.

Viktor Yushchenko was himself poisoned in 2004. He and his family believe the assassination attempt was ordered by Moscow when he attempted to steer Ukraine to closer integration with Europe.

Speaking to Sky News, accompanied by his American-born wife Katarina, Mr Yushchenko warned that the new-found solidarity between European states and the US was not enough on its own.

"I have no doubt (that Russia carried out the attack). I want western society - western governments and European governments in particular - to have no doubt too," he told Sky News in his Kiev office.

"I totally agree with the British position. I am glad that it has received international support and solidarity.

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"I think politically it is a very important position that is being developed with a united Europe and the United States.

"But I don't want it to end there with this single step, which we use to confront the modern imperial Russian policy."

'Russia will punish everyone,' says ex-leader

Mr Yushchenko is critical of western policies towards Russia over the past decades.

He insists that every Russian attempt to interfere in the working of other countries should be addressed immediately, even suggesting that military involvement should not be ruled out.

Expelling diplomats is not enough, he said.

"If we are talking about Russian policy for the last decade or 15 years, it is dangerous," he explains.

"Of course we should talk about the diplomatic component, but we should talk about the military component, we should talk about the safety component, economic, financial, humanitarian, sanctions.

"All these components are a mosaic which contains all these components which makes one strategy focused on changing Russian policy," he said.

"Of course we can talk of a defensive military component - when every Russian provocation is answered.

"Answering is not aggressive. We are not talking about conquering. We are talking about a normal reaction to the aggressive action of Russia on Ukrainian territory today."

Image: Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal were attacked using a nerve agent

Katarina Yushchenko said that when she heard of the attack on the Skripals, everything came flooding back.

"Of course it did. My husband has been through it, many other people have been through it," she said.

"What we are seeing is the hybrid war tactics that Russia has been using in Britain, Europe and the US - they are exactly what was done in the Ukraine many years ago.

"We are talking about poisoning. We are talking fake news. We are talking the financing of radical parties. We are seeing the same thing. It was a frightening repeat of what we saw happening in our country," she said.

Image: Police in forensic suits at a cemetery in Salisbury

Mr Yushchenko led the so-called "Orange Revolution" - a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005.

The poison used to attack him was dioxin, a primary component in the defoliating chemical known as Agent Orange.

Mrs Yushchenko believes it wasn't a coincidence.

"Our doctor in Switzerland thought that it was ironic. Russia often uses symbolism, uses key dates, they often use these types of things to send messages, so yes, I think it might have played a role. There is no doubt it was made only (in Russia) and everyone involved with it ran away and is now hiding in Moscow,” she added.

The former president says that the only way to control President Putin is a mixture of solidarity economics.

Reduce the use of his natural resources and the economy of Russia will fail, he says, adding that sticking together is the key.

He asked: "What does Putin fear the most?

"Solidarity, international solidarity. Look, the decision of 24 countries of the world to expel Russian diplomats - it is the most important story in the world. It is the most powerful blow delivered to Putin’s policies for months." </s> Russia’s poisoning of a former spy in Britain is part of a strategy of conducting operations, and then denying responsibility for them, that is designed to divide the West, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday.

A day after Washington announced it was expelling 60 Russians in a show of support for Britain, Mattis said President Vladimir Putin’s denials of responsibility for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in southern England could not be taken seriously.

And he said it carried echoes of Russia’s 2014 invasion and subsequent annexation of Crimea carried out by armed men dressed in military fatigues but who were not wearing insignia.

“They’re doing things that they believe are deniable,” Mattis told reporters.

“And so they’re trying to break the unity of the Western alliance, NATO and — and that sort of thing,” he said.

“They take the insignia off soldiers’ uniforms and they go into Crimea. They say they have nothing to do with what’s going on with the separatists in eastern Ukraine,” Mattis added.

“I’m not sure how they can say that with a straight face.”

While most Western countries have pointed the finger firmly at Moscow, Britain’s opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn has raised doubts that Putin was behind the poisoning, suggesting it might have been the work of “mafia-like groups” in Russia.

US President Donald Trump has been accused by his opponents of being too friendly towards Putin, criticizing him for failing to confront the Russian leader over the poisoning in a phone call last week when he congratulated him on his re-election.

However the banishing of the 60 Russians was the largest ever mass expulsion to be ordered by Washington.

It was accompanied by a warning from the White House that ties between Washington and Moscow could only improve “with a change in the Russian government’s behavior.” </s> Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said the UK could be behind the former spy's poisoning, accusing the West of playing "children's games". Lavrov told a press conference on 2 April that there were "other explanations" over the poisoning of a Russian ex-spy and his daughter in Salisbury last month. "Experts tell us that it may well be beneficial to the British special services, who are known for their ability to act with license to kill," he said. "The attack could be beneficial to the ... </s> Britain’s top envoy has warned Russia’s alleged involvement in the nerve agent poisoning of a former spy is “a challenge to all of us” as the Turnbull government considers its own possible sanctions against Moscow.

Acting high commissioner Ingrid Southworth raised the deaths of Australians in the shooting down of flight MH17 by Moscow-backed Ukrainian separatists as she thanked the Turnbull government for a firm statement of condemnation over the poisoning and said Britain will “work very closely” with Australian officials as they consider punitive action.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a joint statement on Thursday that it supported Britain “in the strongest terms” and warned that “Australia is considering its responses in support of the United Kingdom”.

Both the British and Australian governments have repeatedly said they are consulting closely on responses to the poisoning, raising the prospect that Canberra will take out its own measures against Moscow along with others countries that are rallying around Britain over the unprecedented use of a chemical weapon on British soil.

Ms Southworth said the use of a Russian-made, military-grade nerve agent to poison former agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was part of a pattern of behaviour by Moscow. </s> Spy Poisoning: Former Russian MP Points Finger Of Blame To UK

Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov has claimed Russia had nothing to do with the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter and instead pointed the finger of blame to British Intelligence.

As the row intensifies over the poisoning of the ex-spy and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury a former Russian MP has made a series of allegations against the UK.

Sergei Markov was speaking to Matt Frei on LBC.

He said: “British authority are trying to falsify the investigation into the poisoning."

“Please re-establish your control,” he added as he accused the UK of “playing political games”.

Asked by Matt if he was pointing the finger of blame at the British Intelligence authority Mr Markov said: “Absolutely correct.”

The exchanges between Matt and Sergei Markov followed news that Russia was expelling 23 British diplomats - believed to be intelligence officers.

Speaking earlier this week Theresa May said the "reckless and despicable act" represented an "unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the UK" as she vowed a "full and robust response".

Russia has continued to deny possessing the deadly nerve agent novichok.

Sergei Markov is the director of the Kremlin-supporting Institute of Political Studies in Moscow. </s> • Four world leaders have issued a joint statement blaming Russia for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the former double agent who fell ill with his daughter in England.
• The leaders say there is "no plausible alternative explanation" to Russia being to blame.
• The statement follows days of diplomacy by UK Prime Minister Theresa May and comes amid a meeting by NATO to discuss the crisis.

LONDON — The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, and Germany have released a joint statement condemning Russia for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in England last week.

US President Donald Trump, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed that there was "no plausible alternative explanation" than that Russia was to blame for the attack.

The leaders described the poisoning as "the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War," adding that Russia's actions "threaten the security of us all."

The statement marks a significant ramping up of tensions with Russia and comes as members of the NATO military alliance meet to discuss the crisis.

It came after several days of diplomacy by May following initial reluctance by the French and US governments to publicly blame Russia for the incident, in which Skripal and his daughter were poisoned by what authorities identified as a Russia-developed nerve agent.

On Wednesday, May announced that Britain would expel 23 Russian diplomats from the UK in response to the attack.

Britain is also set to freeze the accounts of people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin and suspend all high-level contact with the Russian government.

On Thursday, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said Russia should "shut up" and "go away" and suggested that Britain was in a "chilly" war with the country.

Asked about the poisoning on Thursday, Trump told reporters that it "certainly looks like Russia were behind it."

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman hit back on Thursday describing attempts to blame Russia for the poisoning as "insane."

Maria Zakharova said she wanted to comment on "the statements made by the prime minister of Britain in parliament with completely insane accusations towards the Russian Federation, our entire country, our entire people."

She added that Russia planned to retaliate soon, saying they would "introduce reciprocal steps, without doubt... They are currently being worked on and will be adopted in the near future." </s> Image copyright EPA Image caption Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied allegations Russia was behind the Salisbury spy poisoning

Russia is now a "far greater threat" to the UK's national security than the Islamic State group, the head of the British army has said.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, General Mark Carleton-Smith said Britain "cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses".

"The Russians seek to exploit vulnerability and weakness wherever they detect it," he said.

The UK blames Russia for the Salisbury poisoning and several cyber-attacks.

In March, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal - who sold secrets to MI6 - and his daughter Yulia survived being poisoned with Novichok.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, was later exposed to the same nerve agent and died in hospital.

Gen Carleton-Smith's comments follow similar remarks made earlier this year by the UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

In October, the UK government also accused Russia's GRU military intelligence service of being behind four high-profile cyber-attacks on targets including the US Democratic Party and a small TV network in Britain.

Russia denies any involvement in the Skripal poisoning and has described cyber-attack accusations as a "rich fantasy".

Image copyright EPA/ Yulia Skripal/Facebook Image caption Mr Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious

In his first interview since being appointed Chief of the General Staff in June, Gen Carleton-Smith said Russia is "indisputably" a bigger threat than Islamic terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and IS.

"Russia has embarked on a systematic effort to explore and exploit Western vulnerabilities, particularly in some of the non-traditional areas of cyber, space, undersea warfare," he said.

"We cannot be complacent about the threat Russia poses or leave it uncontested."

The Russian Embassy responded by poking fun at his comments.

The 54-year-old former SAS commander graduated from Sandhurst military academy in the final years of the Cold War.

He led the search for Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 terror attacks and was at the forefront of Britain's role in the campaign to combat IS in Iraq and Syria.

Image copyright Crown Copyright 2016 Image caption Gen Carleton-Smith said the physical manifestation of the Islamist threat has diminished

Russia has previously been condemned by world leaders over its annexation of Crimea and role in the conflict in Ukraine.

Moscow has also been accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election - which President Vladimir Putin and other top Russian officials have repeatedly denied.

Image copyright Metropolitan Police Image caption CCTV shows two suspects in the Salisbury poisoning, who the UK believes are from Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU

Mr Putin also rejects the UK's allegations that the two suspects in the Skripal poisoning were GRU operatives.

Russia has accused the British authorities of Russophobia, misleading the international community and UK citizens and of "disgusting anti-Russian hysteria".

Read more: </s> Mikheil Saakashvili, Ukrainian opposition figure and former Georgian president, has vowed to push ahead with his struggle against Ukraine's leadership. Speaking to Current Time in Warsaw on February 13, Saakashvili blamed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko for his deportation to Poland and said the main response will come "from the people of Ukraine."
Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, himself the victim of a September 2004 poisoning, calls for military action to be considered against Russia.