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Prime Minister will tell Putin to scrap Russia’s ‘malign’ policies

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Prime Minister will tell Putin to scrap Russia’s ‘malign’ policies

May faces backlash for ‘legacy hunting’ at LAST major summit before she quits: PM and husband Philip arrive in Japan for G20 meeting ahead of showdown with Putin

  • May will warn Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka
  • The meeting will be the final talk between the two leaders before Mrs May leaves
  • Putin’s aides suggest it could provide an opportunity for ‘normalising’ relations

By James Tapsfield, Political Editor, For Mailonline and Jack Doyle In Osaka, Japan,

Published: 20:35 EDT, 26 June 2019 | Updated: 06:23 EDT, 27 June 2019

Theresa May arrived in Japan for her final major summit as PM today – amid accusations she is ‘legacy hunting’ by agreeing to a showdown with Vladimir Putin.

The Prime Minister and husband Philip touched down in Osaka, where world leaders are gathering for the G20 summit of powerful nations. 

Tomorrow Mrs May will have her first face-to-face talks with the Russian president since the Novichok attack in Salisbury in March last year.

She is expected to warn Mr Putin that Russia will remain out in the cold unless he abandons his ‘malign’ policies. 

But Tory MP have complained that she should be leaving the diplomacy to her successor – with either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Hunt set to take over in Downing Street next month.

Relations between the two countries were put in the deep freeze following the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

Theresa May and husband Philip touched down in Osaka (pictured), where world leaders are gathering for the G20 summit of powerful nations

Theresa May will warn Vladimir Putin to abandon his ‘malign’ policies at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka

It led to the death of British woman Dawn Sturgess four months later after she handled the discarded perfume bottle Russian agents used to carry the deadly nerve agent. Mrs May accused Moscow of ordering the assassination attempt on the Skripals and pointed the finger at three members of the GRU, its military intelligence agency.

She expelled Russian spies and, with the then foreign secretary Boris Johnson, helped coordinate the expulsion of dozens of Russian diplomats from other countries.

Details of the meeting were announced by the Kremlin, and Putin aides suggested it could provide an opportunity for ‘normalising’ relations.

Yury Ushakov, a Kremlin aide, told the Russian Interfax news agency: ‘The leaders will talk about sensitive matters, and quite a few of them have accumulated in our relations with the United Kingdom.

‘If some opportunities can be found for normalising our cooperation, we will only welcome this.’

Tory backbencher Bob Seely, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Times: ‘There’s a little too much legacy hunting going on here. The less she ties people’s hands the better. We need to give the new leader, whoever it is, the freedom to act.’

Bill Browder, the British-American founder of the Global Magnitsky campaign to punish Russian human rights offenders, called the decision ‘gross negligence on Theresa May’s part’, adding: ‘After Russia committed an act of domestic terrorism in Salisbury this is the last thing Britain should be doing.’

Mrs May’s spokesman dismissed any idea that the meeting with Mr Putin represented a normalisation of relations.

The meeting will be the final talk between the two leaders before Mrs May leaves Downing Street next month

The spokesman added: ‘As she has said, we remain open to a different relationship, but that can only happen if Russia desists from actions which undermine international treaties and collective security, like the attack in Salisbury.

‘The Prime Minister’s position on Salisbury and Russia’s wider pattern of malign behaviour is well known.’

Officials said the meeting was an important opportunity to deliver this message ‘leader to leader’.

The last time the two leaders met was in 2016, at the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China.

After the Salisbury attacks, Mrs May ordered a ‘covert war’ on Mr Putin’s spy network. Moscow was humiliated when details of the assassination attempt became public and the two men behind it were named and went on TV to claim they were sightseeing.

Mr Putin has also been condemned around the world over the shooting down of the MH17 Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea and interventions in the Syrian civil war.

The Osaka summit, which takes place tomorrow and Saturday, is Mrs May’s last major outing as prime minister. But she will travel to Brussels on Sunday for an EU council summit.

…as Trump insists: We won’t send troops to Iran

The G20 summit is likely to be dominated by growing hostility between the US and Iran.

Iran has been accused of attacking oil tankers and shooting down a US drone.

Theresa May has already attacked Iran’s ‘deeply destabilising activity’, adding: ‘Our priority should be the urgent de-escalation of tensions.’

Critics fear US tensions with Tehran over a nuclear pact could accidentally lead to war.

Yesterday, Donald Trump revealed there would be no US ‘boots on the ground’ if he ordered action against Iran. 

Asked whether the US could find itself in a war with Iran, the President said: ‘I hope we don’t, but we’re in a very strong position if something should happen.

‘I’m not talking boots on the ground. I’m just saying if something would happen it wouldn’t last very long.’

Mr Trump, who hit Iran with new sanctions on Monday, caused global unease on Friday by launching an air strike against the country and then stopping it at the last minute.

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