Like all in Parliament, I think that the attack on Sergei Skripal and Yulia Skripal is appalling. Like many, I feel that Russia is probably behind this attack. A surprising number of people who have worked against Putin have died, some of these deaths have been obvious assassinations, others not so.
However, the issue of if this was carried out by the Russian state, or if Russia lost some of the nerve agents it has produced has been discussed in Parliament. Russia has asked for a sample of the nerve agent as well as time to answer the claims. And while I do not trust Russia to be honest, there is the possibility that they are innocent in his matter.
But, I do think that this needs to be looked at properly. Many nations in the west are dependent upon Russian gas and due to this, may not be too keen on sanctions. Also, it has been alleged that, the US president has a reason to trust Russia, though those allegations may be false.In PMQ's, Corbyn has been castigated for wanting to take a more cautions approach on this matter, but it is only by showing that we are taking appropriate care in the investigation into this, that we can get the west to back us up. And if we do not, more critics of Putin who live abroad will continue to die in strange circumstances.
