Diplomats slam PM's Russia warning to Trump in verse
Russian diplomats tweet a critical ode to Theresa May, as Mikhail Gorbachev warns it "looks as if the world is preparing for war".
Friday 27 January 2017 14:35, UK
Diplomats at the Russian embassy have penned a poem accusing the PM of trying to revive Cold War hostilities.
In a speech to Republicans in Philadelphia on Thursday,on Donald Trump's relationship with Russia.
Citing former US president Ronald Reagan, she warned the right approach to Vladimir Putin should be to "engage but beware".
Staff at the Russian embassy in London responded on Twitter on Friday in rhyme: "Engage but beware", Prime Minister said. As far as we're aware, Cold War was long dead."
It posted the verse online under the hashtag #PoemsAboutTrumpAndMay along with other Twitter users choosing to mark Mrs May's visit to the US in rhyme.
In her address ahead of face-to-face talks with the US President, the PM said: "There is nothing inevitable about conflict between Russia and the West. And nothing unavoidable about retreating to the days of the Cold War. But we should engage with Russia from a position of strength.
"And we should build the relationships, systems and processes that make cooperation more likely than conflict - and that, particularly after the illegal annexation of Crimea, give assurance to Russia's neighbouring states that their security is not in question.
"We should not jeopardise the freedoms that President Reagan and Mrs Thatcher brought to Eastern Europe by accepting President Putin's claim that it is now in his sphere of influence."
It comes as Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, warned "no problem is more urgent today than the militarisation of politics and the new arms race".
In an opinion piece for Time magazine, the 85-year-old painted a grim picture of the world and said it "looks as if the world is preparing for war".
He warned relations between the two world powers was "going from bad to worse", warning, "the nuclear threat once again seems real".
Mr Gorbachev urged Mr Trump and Mr Putin should make it their "common goal" to reduce the world's nuclear arsenal.
He added: "The time to decide and act is now."
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