LABOUR yesterday warned against Jeremy Hunt’s calls for tougher sanctions against Russia yesterday.
Hunt made the call on his first US trip as Foreign Secretary, telling the audience at the United States Institute for Peace that the European Union should be “blunt” and ensure its sanctions against Russia mean the continent stands “shoulder-to-shoulder with the US”.
The comments come as America takes a tougher line on the Kremlin, with the US State Department expected to confirm it will move ahead with further curbs on defence exports and financial measures.
It is understood that additional restrictions may then be imposed after three months unless Moscow provides assurances that it is not using chemical or biological weapons.
This follows the Salisbury nerve agent attack against father-and-daughter Sergei and Yulia Skripal, which claimed the life of 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess in Amesbury.
Russia has denied responsibility but Hunt says Russia must know that violations committed against other countries and their citizens come with a “serious price”.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Hunt said: “America said that within 90 days they will implement sanctions and we have to recognise that is taking things further and we have to, as Europeans, make sure that we’re matching that because this happened on European soil.
“So we’re not saying we’re going to do exactly the same thing, but we have to make sure that our reaction is to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with America.”
He added: “We need to strengthen and rebuild the Western alliance so that the people who are considering whether to cross red lines actually think again.”
However, Labour shadow international secretary Barry Gardiner MP said further sanctions would “ratchet up international tensions”, stating: “I don’t think it’s the right way to go.
“There needs to be critical engagement, there needs to be dialogue with Russia, we need to try and reduce international conflict, and especially to help bring the horrific Syrian war now to an end. We don’t want to increase the tensions at a time when we really need to be focused on doing that.”
Hunt’s three-day US visit follows the summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and American counterpart Donald Trump in Finland, which led to widespread criticism of the US leader.
On his opinion of Trump, Hunt stated: “My interpretation of President Trump, having met him briefly when he came over to the UK for the visit in July, is that this is someone who does fundamentally believe there should be a rules-based order internationally.”
Hunt continued: “He’s someone who, as a businessman, has traded all over the world – he just doesn’t think it’s working terribly well the way it does now.”
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