As U.K. Waits for Putin Response, It Says `Go Away and Shut Up'

(Bloomberg) -- Vladimir Putin is still keeping the U.K. waiting on how he’s respond to 23 Russian agents getting kicked out of Britain. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said he just wants Russia to “go away and shut up.”

Asked about the state of the relationship, Williamson said: “Well, let’s face it, relations ain’t good are they... It’s been exceptionally chilly at the moment.”

His comments came after a major speech Thursday in which he said he planned to vaccinate British soldiers against anthrax and build a new chemical weapons center to prepare the country for a new kind of warfare.

Williamson, who is part of Prime Minister Theresa May’s inner circle and was only recently promoted to his new job, is a geopolitical hawk. Back in December, he said British citizens who fought for the Islamic State abroad are better off dead and should be stopped from returning home.

In his speech in Bristol, he accused Russia of ripping up the international rule book “using its growing hybrid capabilities to subvert, undermine, and influence countries around the world.” His message was clear: Soft Power was all well and good, but Britain also needs “hard power to back it up.”

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