Russia should “go away and shut up”, says UK defence secretary

UK defence secretary Gavin Williamson has said Russia should “go away and shut up” after being quizzed on how the Kremlin should react to Britain expelling 23 Russian diplomats.

Their expulsion was Britain’s response to Russia failing to explain how a nerve agent was used to poison a former double agent in the UK.

During a Q&A session at a Rolls-Royce facility in Bristol, Mr Williamson said: “What we will do is we will look at how Russia responds to what we have done. It is absolutely atrocious and outrageous what Russia did in Salisbury. We have responded to that.

“Frankly, Russia should go away and should shut up.”

Britain’s defence head went on to describe the Kremlin’s cyber operations as “brazen”, using social media to “muddy the waters and spread confusion”.

Mr Williamson suspects recent events are only a taste of what’s to come, suggesting that “Russia is capable of much more” and outright accusing it of “using operatives insidiously to interfere in the political processes of other nations”.