A scowling Theresa May has confronted Vladimir Putin over the “despicable” Salisbury poison attack as the pair held formal talks for the first time since the attempted assassination of a former Russian spy led to the death of a British woman and left four people in hospital.
In a frosty 80-minute meeting at the G20 summit in Japan, Ms May told the Russian president there could be no return to “business as normal” between the two countries unless Moscow gives up its “irresponsible and destablising” activities on the world stage.
She told him that the UK had “irrefutable” evidence that Russia was to blame for the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with nerve agent in March 2018 – something Mr Putin has always denied.
Aides were unable to say whether Ms May demanded that Mr Putin hand over the two prime suspects in the Salisbury case to face conspiracy-to-murder charges in a British court.
Moscow has a strict ban on the extradition of its nationals to face trial abroad, and the UK’s hopes of bringing military intelligence agents Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov to justice may depend on the exercise of an international arrest warrant if they leave Russia.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Putin shrugged off the incident as a “fuss about spies” which was “not worth five kopecks” and should not get in the way of warmer relations between London and Moscow.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Putin scarcely attempted to maintain his position that he was not involved in ordering the hit on Mr Skripal, who acted as a UK double agent within Russian military intelligence during the 1990s and 2000s and later came to Britain as part of a prisoner swap after being uncovered and jailed.
In a chilling assessment of the case, he said: “Treason is the gravest crime possible and traitors must be punished. I am not saying the Salisbury incident is the way to do it, but traitors must be punished.”
But Ms May told the Russian president that the use of a chemical weapon on British streets was a “truly despicable act” which had led to the death, several months later, of innocent UK national Dawn Sturgess, who was poisoned by a phial of novichok that had been discarded.
A stony-faced PM made no effort to hide her distaste as she shook hands with Mr Putin for the cameras ahead of their meeting.
She told the president: “There cannot be a normalisation of our bilateral relationship until Russia stops the irresponsible and destabilising activity that threatens the UK and its allies – including hostile interventions in other countries, disinformation and cyber attacks – which undermine Russia’s standing in the world.”
The prime minister told Mr Putin that the attack in the Wiltshire city formed part of “a wider pattern of unacceptable behaviour”, aides said.
“She was clear that the UK has irrefutable evidence that Russia was behind the attack – based on painstaking investigations and cooperation with our allies.
“She said that this behaviour could never be repeated and that the UK wants to see the two individuals responsible brought to justice.”
In his Financial Times interview, Mr Putin dismissed liberal democracy as an “obsolete” ideology, which had “outlived its purpose” and was now “in conflict with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population” in the west because of the protections it offers to migrants and others.
But Ms May retorted that Britain would “continue to unequivocally defend liberal democracy and protect the human rights and equality of all groups, including LGBT people”.
The passage by Mr Putin’s administration of a law banning “gay propaganda” in 2013 has been followed by an upsurge in abuses against LGBT+ people.
Despite the chilly tone of exchanges, aides said it had been “worthwhile” to have the meeting, during which the leaders discussed global security issues – such as Syria, Iran and Ukraine – with officials present following a 40-minute one-on-one discussion of Salisbury and related concerns.
“It was very worthwhile to be able to deliver some very serious messages face to face,” said one senior British official.
Relations between London and Moscow have plunged to a post-Cold War low as a result of the Skripal case, along with Russia’s annexation of Crimea, intervention in support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and alleged attempts to interfere in the Brexit referendum and use social media to foment divisions within the UK.
The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats believed to be acting as intelligence agents in the wake of the Salisbury attack, sparking a tit-for-tat response from Moscow that has seriously degraded contacts between the countries. Britain led an international response which saw more than 150 Russian officials sent home from countries around the world.
But Mr Putin appeared to believe it is now time for a thaw, telling the Financial Times: “I think that Russia and the UK are both interested in fully restoring our relations.”
Differences over the Skripal case should not get in the way of international relations, he said: “All this fuss about spies and counter-spies, it is not worth serious interstate relations. This spy story, as we say, it is not worth five kopecks.”
“The list of accusations and allegations against one another could go on and on. We need to just leave it alone and let security agencies deal with it.”
In a jibe at the current Tory leadership race, which will see either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt installed as Ms May’s successor as prime minister on the back of the votes of about 160,000 Conservative members, Mr Putin said the process was very different from his own election as president in a nationwide vote.
“It is different from what you have in Great Britain,” he said. “We are a democratic country. The choice is always made by the Russian people.”
Mr Putin was also due to meet US president Donald Trump, who he described as “a talented person”.
“Mr Trump is not a career politician,” he said. “I do not accept many of his methods when it comes to addressing problems. But do you know what I think? I think that he is a talented person. He knows very well what his voters expect from him.”
Ms May also risked controversy by scheduling meetings with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the fringes of the G20 gathering on Saturday.
Prince Mohammed – known as MBS – has been the focus of global condemnation as a result of the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi military operations in Yemen, while Mr Erdogan’s crackdown on the Turkish opposition in the wake of the attempted coup in 2016 has also sparked allegations of authoritarianism.
Ms May defended her decision to meet them, telling Sky News: “These are all individuals sitting around the G20 table. The G20 is about that international cooperation. I will be promoting that international rules-based order, I will be promoting that international cooperation and I will be giving that message to those that I meet individually and collectively around the G20 table.”
