When the Ties That Bind Unwind: The Skripal Case and the Chemical Weapons Convention

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Friday, March 23, 2018
Author: 
Zarine Kharazian and Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
34
Issue: 
3
Abstract: 

“There is no alternative conclusion,” the prime minister declared, “other than that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr. Skripal and his daughter -- and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury.” In an address to the House of Commons on March 14, 2018, UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats in retaliation for the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England. May gave the diplomats, who the British government has identified as undeclared intelligence officials, just one week to leave the country. The expulsion would be the largest such measure in over 30 years, when Britain had expelled 91 Soviet diplomats acting as undeclared spies during the height of the Cold War.