LONDON -- NATO on Tuesday joined a wave of countries and groups expelling Russian diplomats over the nerve-agent attack on a former spy in Britain, prompting Russia to denounce the actions as "boorish" and pledge to retaliate.
The expulsions were a show of solidarity for Britain, which blames Russia for the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Moscow vehemently denies responsibility and has vowed a "tough response" to the expulsions.
More than 20 countries announced Monday that they were expelling a total of more than 130 Russian diplomats, including 60 kicked out by the United States. Australia, Belgium, Ireland and Moldova joined them Tuesday.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would expel seven workers from the Russian mission and deny the pending accreditation requests of three other workers at the Russian mission.
Stoltenberg said "we will continue to work for meaningful dialogue" with Russia, but he added that the measure announced Tuesday should "send a very clear message to Russia that it has costs."
"I actually think that Russia has underestimated the unity of NATO allies," he said.
The White House said President Donald Trump spoke Tuesday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and that the leaders "expressed support" for the expulsions and "praised" the announcement by others who have followed suit.
Defense Secretary James Mattis said Tuesday that the poisoning of the Skripals amounts to "attempted murder" by the Russian government and furthers a pattern of Russian efforts to divide the U.S.-led Western alliance.
On Tuesday, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said his country was expelling two Russian diplomats whom he described as undeclared intelligence officers. They have been given seven days to leave Australia. Turnbull slammed Russia for "reckless and deliberate" conduct that he said harms global security and violates rules against the use of chemical weapons.
The Russian Embassy in Canberra said the decision was regrettable and jeopardized bilateral relationships.
"It is astonishing how easily the allies of Great Britain follow it blindly contrary to the norms of civilized bilateral dialogue and international relations, and against ... common sense," it said.
Ireland also announced that it was ordering a Russian diplomat to leave. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called the nerve-agent attack on Skripal and his daughter a "shocking and abhorrent" use of chemical weapons.
Belgium followed suit, saying it would expel one Russian diplomat.
And Moldova, the ex-Soviet nation whose pro-Western government is seeking closer ties with the West, on Tuesday also ordered three Russian diplomats to leave within seven days.
Bulgaria, which has so far refrained from ordering any Russians out, said it has recalled its ambassador to Moscow for "consultations."
The Skripals remain hospitalized in critical condition after they were found unconscious March 4 in the English city of Salisbury, where the former spy lived. Britain says they were poisoned with a Soviet-made military-grade nerve agent known as Novichok.
Moscow has dismissed the British accusations as baseless, emphasizing that it completed the destruction of its Soviet-era chemical arsenals last year.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov blamed the U.S. for strong-arming its allies to expel Russian diplomats.
Speaking on a trip to Uzbekistan, Lavrov said the U.S. has applied "colossal pressure, colossal blackmail, which have become Washington's main instrument on the international arena." He warned that Moscow will retaliate for the expulsions, saying "such boorishness can't be tolerated."
Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman, derided last week's presentation for foreign diplomats made by the British Embassy in Moscow as a "manipulation of public opinion," noting that it lacked any evidence.
"It's a major failure of Theresa May," she said on Facebook, referring to the U.K. prime minister.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin will make the final decision on how to respond.
In his remarks to reporters at the Pentagon, Mattis, a retired Marine general and former senior NATO commander, said he could recall a time when the U.S. and Russian militaries were training together for international peacekeeping missions amid hope of a post-Cold War partnership.
"That regrettably, by Russia's choice, is now a thing of the past," he said. "Russia has chosen to be a strategic competitor, even to the point of reckless activity. That's the only thing it can be called to the innocent people in Salisbury who were exposed [to the nerve agent], and possibly to the extent of being murdered by this stuff."
Pressed to be more specific in his accusation, Mattis said: "Attempted murder of a man and his daughter. How's that for starters?"
Asked whether the attack amounted to an act of war, Mattis said it is part of a pattern of Russian actions that Putin apparently believes can be plausibly denied. Mattis cited as examples Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and its military intervention in eastern Ukraine, as well as its interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
"They are doing things they think are deniable," he said. "So they're trying to break the unity of the Western alliance," referring to NATO.
Turkey torn
As U.S. and European allies form a diplomatic front against Russia, Turkey appears caught in the middle. The expulsions of the Russian diplomats by many of its Western allies threaten the country's coziness with the Kremlin and test its defense ties with the U.S. and its military partnership with NATO.
Turkey, which has grown closer to Russia in recent years, has so far stayed out of the fray, saying its foreign policy is based on interests of the Turkish nation and the state.
"At the moment, there is a positive and good relationship between Turkey and Russia," Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said late Monday. "Turkey isn't considering taking any decisions against Russia."
Turkey's ties with fellow NATO members have been strained in recent years, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pursuing a more assertive and independent foreign policy as conflict engulfed neighboring Iraq and Syria. Relations with the European Union have soured over the bloc's perception that Turkey has taken an increasingly autocratic turn, and friction with Washington has flared over U.S. support for Kurdish militants in Syria whom Turkey considers terrorists.
Turkey says the U.S. has created obstacles to its purchase of American Patriot missile defense systems and instead has decided to buy S-400 missile defense batteries from Russia.
"If the U.S. is willing to give Patriot defense systems, Turkey is ready to buy," Bozdag said.
The U.S. Congress may condition the planned sale of F-35 warplanes to Turkey on Ankara's scrapping the S-400 deal with Russia, lawmaker Volkan Bozkir told Hurriyet newspaper. Bozkir headed a Turkish parliamentary delegation to Washington last week. Turkey has ordered 100 F-35s in a deal that would have Turkish companies play a role in their production and maintenance.
"Senators did not tell us this, but when we spoke to their advisers this was the message that emerged," Hurriyet quoted Bozkir, a member of the ruling AK Party, as saying.
Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli on Tuesday denied any link between Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles and American jets.
"Turkey joined the F-35 project years ago, and deliveries will start from next year," he said.
"First of all this is a commercial activity, agreements have been made and Turkey has fulfilled its responsibilities under those agreements," Canikli said. "We've made payments, and all sides will fulfill their responsibilities."
Information for this article was contributed by Sylvia Hui, Vladimir Isachenkov, Raf Casert, Jill Lawless, Rod McGuirk, Alison Mutler and Robert Burns of The Associated Press and by Selcan Hacaoglu of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 03/28/2018