RUSSIA MUST BE FULLY OSTRACISED.

Russia's response to British actions over the attempted murders of Sergei Skripal and his daughter shows just how pathetic actions are.

Having determined that the only realistic source of the nerve agent used in Salisbury was from a Russian government agency, Theresa May announced that the UK would expel 23 Russian diplomats. Today, Russia has responded to this by expelling 23 British diplomats, closing the UK's consulate in St Petersburg and ending the activities of the British Council in Russia. It seems probable that the UK will now announce further measures which will be equally useless.

Russia today is much the same as it was as the old Soviet Union. It is an effective one party dictatorship, run by a cabal of extremely ruthless autocrats and remains largely immune to diplomatic sanctions. Despite its endemic cheating in sporting events, it has been allowed to host both the summer and winter Olympic Games and will host the FIFA football world cup later this year. It's super-rich oligarchs are allowed to invest in British football teams and to buy some of the most expensive property in the UK. Their vast hordes of stolen cash have been allowed to flow through the London money market as well as other major financial centres and, effectively, they have been permitted to do whatever they like, wherever they like.

In the last few days, the UK has received strong messages of support from the USA, Germany and France but it is surely time for more than words and symbolic gestures. It is time for real action which will hit Russia where it hurts, that is, in its pocket and its pride.

All members of the civilised western world should boycott the football world cup and Russia, and all of its citizens, should be banned from all international sporting and cultural events; Russians travelling to other countries should be subject to the most stringent immigration checks and all Russian money and assets held in western countries should be frozen until their owners can prove that they have been acquired from entirely legitimate sources and activities. Travel to Russia and all trading with Russian companies should be subject to the most stringent controls. 

Russia is a rogue state run by people who have no interest in democracy or the rule of law. It is a part of the world which has now shown itself to be wholly "beyond the pale" and should suffer international ostracism for its sins.