Vladimir Putin timed the Salisbury poisoning to boost his support in the Russian election, one of America’s top intelligence officials has suggested.
Dan Coats, the US director of national intelligence, told The Telegraph that Mr Putin wanted to appear the “strongman” and “bad guy” before the vote.
He said the Russian president was pushing “very hard” to get re-elected with as high a vote share as possible. The election took place a fortnight after the Salisbury attack.
Mr Coats also said America would take more action against Russia over its disruptive recent behaviour, though did not detail what measures are being planned.
Mr Coats, who co-ordinates the work of 17 separate US intelligence agencies, was speaking at a briefing held by the Defence Writers Group, part of George Washington University.
Sergei Skripal, the Russian double agent, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned on March 4. The Russian election was held on March 18.
Asked about the poisoning by this newspaper, Mr Coats said it could have been “a continued power play by Putin just prior to his election, which we know he was pushing very, very hard to get as high a number as he possibly could”.
Asked to clarify if Mr Putin had “deliberately” timed the attack before the election, Mr Coats said: “Well I have no proof of that but one could asses that.
“I think the first question that came to my mind and to many minds was 'why would somebody just a week away or so from an election do something like that'?
“And then the second thought is ‘oh yeah, that’s something the Russians would do’.
“Obviously, he was going to be re-elected but we knew all along he was pushing for a high tally [in the vote] and he has earned that support from the Russians by not being a nice guy but being the bad guy.”
The Russian embassy in London and other officials dismissed Britain’s claim that the Kremlin was behind the attack in a war of words before the vote.
Mr Putin won re-election with more than 76 per cent of the vote, meaning he will remain in power until 2024. Some experts credited the heated rhetoric with the West as providing a poll boost for Mr Putin.
Mr Coats also suggested that the poisoning of Mr Skripal and his daughter could been done by Russia to “send a signal to their other spies who have come out of the cold”.
Elsewhere in the briefing, Mr Coats questioned the legitimacy of the Russian election, which had seen claims of ballot-stuffing in favour of Mr Putin.
Mr Coats said you cannot call any election “legitimate” if political opponents had been selected by a candidate. Key Putin opponents were unable to run in the 2018 election.
The comment contrasts with Mr Trump, who congratulated Mr Putin on his election victory in a phone call and did not mention ballot-stuffing claims.