Russian spy attempted murder - what should the UK do?

We do not know how this happened, but we can guess why. It is 99.99% certain that the Russian state has responsibility. Every time one of the assassinations occurs Russia denies all knowledge. We disbelieve them simply because there is no sensible alternative.

It might help if on one occasion Russia admitted involvement. But that is estremely unlikely. What seems certain to me is that the methods used for assassinations has escalated way beyond the casual knife or bullet.

Just considering what we know about Litvinyenko reveals the mind boggling complexity they are prepared to go to to get their way. This latest example has the authorities very worried. There is now clear evidence that the target is their only concern and never mind who else might be in the way.

What can be done? Nothing until we have a UN that has the muscle and backing to force this to stop.

The problem with the UN ( well one of them) is that Russia has a veto on the Security Council

railman is obviously one of the brothers.

The UK, amongst other countries, are taking out undesirables ( and rightly so, in my opinion) in the Middle East with drones and being quite open about it so I don't know why we think we have any right to take the moral high ground here. Nations have always protected their interests by killing those whom they perceive a threat. If you want the chance to live a long life and not endanger your family then I suggest that becoming a spy is not a great career choice. Putin is just doing what has been going across the world for centuries, nothing new here.

I feel sad and anxious that we have reached such a low level in our relations with Russia.
DH was reading me a story this morning about the Russian submarine Kursk that went down with the loss of 118 lives - apparently the RN offered help which was apparently refused. When a Russian mini-submarine went down the RN again offered help which was accepted:
www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/oct/05/russia.world

The new masts on HMS Belfast were in fact made in 2010 as a thank you to Britain for the Arctic Convoys which took supplies to Russia in WW2.
www.standard.co.uk/news/the-new-hms-belfast-from-russia-with-love-6525940.html

What has happened to Glasnost?

What has happened to Glasnost sadly is Putin

I feel really sorry for the ‘ordinary’ Russian people who have been cheated out of the prosperity they might have enjoyed post-Communism by the oligarchs - many of whom we welcome into this country because of their great wealth

I know, I just feel apprehensive about the whole situation.

No proof at all that it was Russian’s could be a number of other Governments trying to stir up trouble .
Our Government’s have not got clean hands .
They don’t tell us the truth look at a few yrs ago when it came to light that the Government of the time told service men that they were in a test for common cold when it was the a Government testing nerve gas on our service men

I agree with others who have said our government should respond with significant actions against Russia, if it is proved to have been done by Russian state agents, as seems likely. Theresa May, as Home Secretary , was weak in her response to the known previous Russian murder - we have to make it clear they cannot get away with it so easily. We must let Russia know they will pay a price for murder - or they will go ahead and kill others on our soil.

‘Putin: The New Tsar’ was on BBC1 last night and was an eye opener. If you didn’t see it, consider watching it on catch up as it was well worth watching.

Is this when our nuclear arsenal comes in handy, to threaten Putin with?

I watched that programme Foxygran! As you said, it was an eye opener, and well worth watching. You can mock dj, but Putin is one sinister person.

Of course they are not going to do anything, Russians shoot down civilian planes and nothing happens! We are much too scared of Putin and his finger on the button. As he says, without Russia, there is no point to this world. A majorly f++ed up country and horrible autocracy. Has so much beautiful culture, music, literature, nature, etc. But it is utterly wrong on every level. As a for instance, they’ve just decriminalised domestic violence. See Stacy dooley’s Report on bbc3.

anthea it was 65 years ago to be exact - not a few years ago.

Not that it was right if course

So we've joined the USA in their Russia phobia/fear/mania ...its unfounded and frankly ridiculous.I'm far more frightened of what May and her merry men will do than I have ever been of Russia ..even with Putin at the helm .He is nowhere near as unstable as Trump...and HE has his finger on the button for the nukes housed here .Be afraid...be very afraid of Donald Trump ,he's the man who will cause WW111

Sheilasue - and our cyclists? Plus several high profile US cheating athletes?

This man was part of a prisoner exchange. I heard the interview of an intelligence expert on the TV yesterday and he said that even with spying there are protocols as to what is and isn't acceptable. He said there is a protocol regarding prisoner exchanges - part of the protocol is that people who are exchanged must be left alone and not be subject to any repercussions. That makes sense to me because it would undermine the whole system of prisoner exchange.

At the moment, we don't know who is responsible. There are rumours that this man was doing some "freelance" spying with who knows what countries.

Anyone who has ready any John le Carre books (based on his own experience as a British intelligence officer), will know that spying is a dirty business and no one is to be trusted. I have always been sceptical about the "accidental death" verdict of the man working for British intelligence whose body was found crammed into a locked suitcase, which he apparently locked himself into.

I'm rather embarrassed to say I wasn't aware of the Willie McCrae case but, having read up on it, the verdict of "suicide" looks highly questionable.

So paddyann you approve of shooting down a civilian aircraft, annexing Crimea, and doing the same to East Ukraine by military means? I presume you watched the programme as you clearly approve of Putin's methods!

'Illegally' annexing Crimea.........

Lyndie
There are innumerable 'what ifs' therefore we can discount them. What if, before possibly passing the bench where the two victims were sitting, your niece and her child were accosted by a wonan wanting to kidnap her child or someone stole her phone or...or...or....
It didn't happen. Do you really want to worry about every possible 'what if'? Do you think, every time you pass a pub, that a patron has drunk too much and might run you over whilst driving out of the car park?

It's all Chinese whispers and a friend of a friend said so and so.
We never actually KNOW what people, even friends or relatives, get up to out of our sight.
We can take a guess but thst's all it is. The only things which cannot be faked are hard, cold, proveable facts, not supposition or 'I was told...'.
We only know what people choose to let us know, anything else, we have to see or hear with our own eyes and ears.

durhamjen
is this when our nuclear arsenal comes in handy
Yes. I can only speak of one nuclear submarine, but in the 80s that one went to red alert 5 times.
And why didn't thing escalate further? They knew what we had.

Maybe we should stop playing spy games.