Jeremy Hunt Warns a Hard Brexit Could Make It Harder to Stand up to Russia

/form Jeremy Hunt has called for further sanctions against Russia in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning as he warns that Putin’s foreign policy “has made the world a more dangerous place”.   The Foreign Secretary will say that a chaotic hard Brexit would make it harder to stand up to the bullying Kremlin as he calls on the EU to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Britain and the US over Russian aggression.   EU nations including Germany and France were among dozens of countries that expelled Russian diplomats following March’s Novichok nerve agent attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, which also resulted in the death of a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, in June.  But some have since reached out to President Putin’s regime, with French president Emmanuel Macron travelling to St Petersburg to call on Russia to work “hand-in-hand” with Europe, and Italy questioning whether sanctions imposed over the 2014 annexation of Crimea should continue.  Today in a speech at the US Institute of Peace, Mr Hunt is due to say that under Mr Putin Russia’s “aggressive and malign behaviour undermines the international order that keeps us safe”.   “That means calling out and responding to transgressions with one voice whenever and wherever they occur, from the streets of Salisbury to the fate of Crimea,” he will say.  He will call on the European Union to “ensure its sanctions against Russia are comprehensive, and that we truly stand shoulder to shoulder with the US”.  German chancellor Angela Merkel became the latest leader to engage with Mr Putin, holding talks with him on Saturday - after he had first stopped in Austria to attend the wedding of the country’s foreign minister Karin Kneissl.  In his first major speech as Foreign Secretary Mr Hunt will warn of the dangers of Russian interference in elections and the vulnerability of social media.  Mr Hunt, who backed Remain before the referendum but now favours leaving the EU, will also address Brexit saying the “messy divorce” of a no-deal Brexit “would take a generation to heal”.  He will urge the European Commission to “engage” with Theresa May’s Brexit plan, saying: “Britain would, of course, find a way to prosper and we have faced many greater challenges in our history.  “But the risk of a messy divorce, as opposed to the friendship we seek, would be a fissure in relations between European allies that would take a generation to heal - a geostrategic error for Europe at an extremely vulnerable time in our history.”  The Foreign Secretary’s three-day visit to the United States will also see him hold talks with senior Trump administration officials including secretary of state Mike Pompeo, chief of staff John Kelly and Jared Kushner, the president’s advisor and son-in-law, Downing Street said.  Among the discussion topics are Iran, North Korea, Syria, Yemen and the Middle East peace process, the Foreign Office said.  He will then travel to New York, where on Thursday he is due to ...