Russian Pundits: The UK Only Understands Strength, It is Time For Putin to Hit Back

We're live, and our program is 60 Minutes about all the super super important things.

- The largest diplomatic dissension of recent history. 23 Russian diplomats must leave Great Britain, per Theresa May's order, within a week. All Russian bank accounts in the UK that will fall under the slightest suspicion of threatening the British security, will be frozen. All high-level interaction is halted. Sergey Lavrov's invitation to London, which he never accepted, according to Maria Zakharova, is retracted.

 

- Also, all private planes will be thoroughly searched by the British customs, so beware, jet owners! And just in the unlikely case for Russia you don't own a private plane, disregard and relax. We won't see a single high-ranking British official at the World Cup Championship in Russia. Their team, however, will participate, although there were talks that it may not. A strange sanction if you ask me, as the UK officials, the Royal Family, forgive me, the Mother Queen will now have to root for their team at home, watching TV. Per Theresa May, the cause is that Russia is definitely guilty of poisoning Skripal with Russian poison. Simply because we did not prove in 24 hours that it wasn't us. The result is agony, just listen:

Theresa May: "We gave Russia the right to provide an explanation of what happened but they demonstrated the most outrageous disregard for the seriousness of the situation. Russia still hasn't provided any explanation as to what happened. Instead, we received a sarcastic reaction, while Russia continues to deny everything. There's no alternative explanation other than that Russia is guilty of attempted murder of Mr. Skripal and his daughter. And for threatening the lives of other Salisbury residents, including Sergeant Nick Bailey. And this means an unlawful use of force of the Russian State against Great Britain".

- There you go. We started, Vyacheslav Alekseyevich, with private airplanes and that their owners must be worried, in this regard, are you any worried, and are we taking seriously the list that was announced today by Theresa, the respected, May?

Vyacheslav Nikonov, Head of State Duma Committee on Education and Science, United Russia:

- I haven't earned enough to buy a plane, and don't even have a bank account in London. But I must say that against the backdrop of the debates that you just showed, the Russian Duma stands out as a mirror of a real, full-scale parliamentarism. Definitely, no one can permit such claims against any foreign states. I see it as completely inexcusable impudence, shamelessness. Not a single piece of evidence of anyone's fault. Simply a statement is made, then conclusions are drawn, Russia is blamed, diplomats are kicked out, some new sanctions are imposed. I think Russia's response cannot be tit-for-tat in this case. Because it's just outrageous. The reaction must be harsher than what is offered by the British side. How it was…

- So we should send out 46 diplomats?

- How it was with the kicking out of our diplomats from the US. I'll remind you that when they sent out an N number of our diplomats, we send out we send out a much larger number from our country, and what followed was an expansion. But to leave this is surely out of question. Back in the day, Winston Churchill, a wise politician, said that if you're choosing between humiliation and war, when you pick humiliation, you get both humiliation and war. So in no situation must Russia endure any humiliation here. Regarding the accusations that Russia can't control its chemical weapons, Russia destroyed its chemical weapons, notably, earlier than the US destroyed theirs, completely. The chemical agent in question was produced in Nukus (Chemical Research Institute), in a lab that, as of 1999, is under strict American control. And samples of this substance are in possession of all the Western special services. Including the secret British lab that's located a few km from Salisbury, where it all took place. We know all this. They're blaming Russia for nearly being a terrorist-supporting state. And there are already talks that it should be included in the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Although, for that, all diplomatic relations must be cut off immediately. But let me just remind you that when terrorism first emerged, it was most likely in Russia, they were the Social Revolutionaries, a fighter organization that killed by the thousands Russian state, government workers, and peaceful residents along the way. They later found their refuge where? Unquestionably, in England, and moreover, Gershuni, a leader of the SR fighter organization, was on a pedestal in London. Ukrainian nationalists, the banderovtsy, the Ukrainian insurgent army, camps in the British occupation zone, not disarmed, they were never given out to the Soviet Union, and later were quite actively used as forest brothers in CIA operations of British intelligence. The terrorists that operated in Chechnya that killed people and blew up houses on the territory of the Russian Federation. Where did they get political asylum? There, on the territory of Great Britain, and it's there that 200 criminals from the most wanted list -of our country for economic fraud…

-Today they were taken under protection. All the escapees. As reported from London.

- "The British woman craps". This was well-known to us... for centuries. And, regretfully, this will not cease for centuries, I think, to come, because the only thing that can possibly make the British side happy is if the Russian Federation were to cease to exist as a country completely, but since it's not a part of our plans, they will never see this happen.

- Margarita, it was very curious and surprising not to see in this list of sanctions any retaliation measures against the RT channel. But it seems like tomorrow they will be deciding your fate, especially since Theresa May said it's only the beginning. How do you like this list and what are your expectations regarding RT in London?

Margarita Simonyan, Editor in Chief, Russia Today channel and Sputnik news agency: "The British woman craps", as we remember from the Cold War, was coined by a British man. Not a woman, but a man, and a Brit, not the Americans, as is widely believed.

Vyacheslav Nikonov: And it began with a famous speech... Long ago, 19th century.

- I'm referring to a cold war exactly as we know it under the specific term "Cold War" Regarding us. Yesterday, the British media regulator Ofcom, their analog of our Roskomnadzor, said that they will make their decision regarding us based on the decision of Theresa May. Today, Theresa May announced that Ofcom is not dependent on her and it will make its own decision. I already posted in my social media in non-parliamentary terms, "either take off your cross or pull up your pants." Is it dependent or no? All these years, we are under strict control of the British media regulator. And Ofcom has less fewer with us than with many other British media. Because we try to behave very weary, very attentive, very carefully, knowing that we're under a magnifying glass and that for years, many dream of revoking our license. And there's been talks of this by Theresa May, and by Johnson, and by people in the Parliament long before this Skripal story. Of how one shouldn't go or talk to us, and how it would be nice to close us altogether. Now there's this excuse. They didn't do it yet and hopefully, God willing, they won't do it anytime soon for one simple reason, and I have Masha Zakharova to thank. Was it on your program yesterday that she...

- Yes, it was our program.

- ...claimed that if RT gets shut down in the UK, all British media will get kicked out of Russia. That's not something she can afford to do. They can't afford this, so we stay. All of this situation, and if it weren't for the people involved, some of whom are in critical and some are in a serious condition, the situation could have been funny. Because today, Stephen Hawking died, a wonderful, well-known man, may he rest in peace, and Russia also didn't produce any evidence that it's not at fault! Just listen to what they're saying.

- This calls for a Security Council.

- We are completely denied any presumption of innocence, absolutely they claim that someone in the middle of London, and I want to say that London is filled with cameras so much so that you can't take a step without it getting recorded. Nonetheless, we're not shown any of the footage from cameras, no evidence is produced. Someone in the middle of London poisoned a former Russian spy with some chemical agent that used to be produced in the Soviet Union and has long stopped being produced. The lab has been since taken under the US control. A nearby British lab has it but no one cares, it was done by Russia. And today she claims that Russia offered no explanation but continued to deny everything. What was it supposed to do? Admit the guilt over these 24 hrs, saying, "Forgive us, it's the Devil's tricks"? "Yes, it's us, but we're sorry, it's the last time." This is beyond all... ...not just our understanding of a society that respects some judicial pillars, some laws, some general rights. But it lies outside of even plain common sense. What's there to talk about? Actually, the Brits should have been afraid if the Russian society and government said: "Yes, we poisoned Skripal because he's a traitor, because he committed treason, and we'll do so in the future as well." That's when Britain should've gotten scared, sent out diplomats, etc. Because that would signify a conflict in values. While what we have is a trust crisis: they won't believe we didn't do it and we don't believe they really think it's us.