EU nations mull expelling Russian diplomats after spy attack

PIC: (From left) Head of cabinet of European Commission President Clara Martinez Alberola, Sweden's Prime minister Stefan Lofven, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and newly appointed Secretary General of the Commission Martin Selmayr talk during a meeting on the second day of a summit of European Union (EU) leaders at the European Council headquarter in Bruxelles, on March 23, 2018. (AFP)

BELGIUM - The leaders of several EU countries said they are mulling whether to expel Russian diplomats or take other steps to support Britain following a nerve agent attack on a former spy.

European Union leaders returned to summit talks on Friday after uniting behind British Prime Minister Theresa May in blaming Russia for the attack in England, and agreeing to recall the bloc's ambassador to Moscow for consultations.

Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats they said were spies, and has been pressing EU allies to follow suit despite Moscow's warning against confrontational steps.

The leaders of former communist member states the Czech Republic and Lithuania as well as Denmark and Ireland said they were considering further unilateral steps, including expelling diplomats.

"I think national measures will be applied already starting from next week... from a lot of countries," Lithuania's outspoken President Dalia Grybauskaite said before joining the second and last day of the summit in Brussels.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told the CTK news agency that Prague may expel several Russian diplomats over the poisoining of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

"Yes, we will probably move in this direction," Babis said, adding he will discuss expulsions with his cabinet members on Monday.

Ireland's Prime Minisster Leo Varadkar said his government would decide early next week whether to expel diplomats following a security assessment.

"We are not going to randomly expel people who are genuine diplomats," Varadkar told reporters.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said his government heard the "strong signal" from the bloc's leaders who agreed with Britain's assessment that Russia was to blame for the attack.

He said he would hold consultations with members of his government.

"My government will then in the next coming days very seriously consider to take further steps," Rasmussen said.

A French presidency source said Thursday that Paris was also ready to act.

The poisoning has heightened worries across Europe about Russian meddling -- from repeated cyber attacks to what the EU has called an "orchestrated strategy" of disinformation aimed at destabilising the bloc.

During a visit to Hanoi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that British officials "are feverishly trying to force allies to take confrontational steps".

Lavrov, quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, said London was trying to make the "crisis as deep as possible".