Jeremy Corbyn has defended his position on Russia saying we should not resign ourselves to a 'new cold war'.

The Labour leader, who has been roundly criticised for his failure to condemn the Kremlin over the nerve agent attack, defied critics in his own party and instead called for a calm response.

He suggested that the government were jumping to conclusions - and the Mafia could have been behind the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

In an article for the Guardian he wrote: "To rush way ahead of the evidence being gathered by the police, in a fevered parliamentary atmosphere, serves neither justice nor our national security."

Mr Corbyn had earlier raised hopes of his backbenchers by saying the "evidence points to Russia." It came as Prime Minister Theresa May gathered an international coalition with the US, France and Germany all pointing the finger at Moscow.

But last night Mr Corbyn reiterated that the nerve agent could have been deployed by either the Russian state or a rogue agent - despite the government ruling out the latter.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Trenchant breaking through the metre-thick ice of the Arctic Ocean on Ice Exercise 18 in pictures newly released last night (
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Cdr Charles Ball/Royal Navy/PA)
"A connection to Russian mafia-like groups cannot be excluded," Mr Corbyn said (
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PA)

"If the latter, a connection to Russian mafia-like groups that have been allowed to gain a toehold in Britain cannot be excluded," he wrote.

Mr Corbyn warned against a “McCarthyite intolerance of dissent” over Russia.

He said: “Labour is of course no supporter of the Putin regime, its conservative authoritarianism, abuse of human rights or political and economic corruption.

“However, that does not mean we should resign ourselves to a ‘new cold war’ of escalating arms spending, proxy conflicts across the globe and a McCarthyite intolerance of dissent.”

It comes after the PM - pictured in Salisbury - gathered an international coalition (
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Getty Images Europe)
Theresa May looks at the bench, hidden by a police tent, where the Skripals collapsed (
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Daily Mirror)

The leader's comments have provoked a battle at the highest levels of the Labour party.

More than 20 Labour MPs have so far signed a motion, tabled by Corbyn critic John Woodcock, saying they "unequivocally accept the Russian state's culpability."

Last night Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Russia should be “called out, no ifs, no buts".

The senior shadow minister told BBC Question Time: "The prime minister asked serious questions of Russia earlier this week … and no answers have been given.

Jeremy Corbyn has been reluctant to point the finger at Russia's Vladimir Putin

What is Novichok, the deadly nerve agent?

By OLIVER MILNE

This group of nerve agents was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s and is said to be up to ten times stronger than VX.

Novichoks - meaning 'newcomer' in Russian - were designed as "binary weapons", meaning they are comprised of two relatively harmless ingredients that only become deadly when mixed together.

This makes them easier to transport, handle and gives them a much longer shelf life than other nerve agents.

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the former head of Britain’s Chemical, Biological Radiation and Nuclear regiment told the Express: "It is designed to be undetectable for any standard chemical security testing.

"Victims would only need to touch it for it to be absorbed into their bloodstreams." Read more here.

"That led her to the conclusion that there is no alternative explanation, other than that responsibility lies with Russia. And as you will have seen Germany, France and the U.S. have joined her in that conclusion.

"And that is the right conclusion."

Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry insisted Russia had a “prima facie case” to answer.

Ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical but stable condition 12 days after they were exposed to the ultra-deadly, Russian-produced nerve agent Novichok.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical but stable condition (
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Facebook)
Investigators continue to probe the scene in Salisbury (
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PA)

Britain's damning retaliation measures against Russia

  • 23 of Russia's 58 London diplomats expelled. They must leave within a week in the biggest expulsion for 30 years
  • All planned high-level UK-Russia contacts suspended
  • UK ministers and Royal Family will boycott the 2018 World Cup
  • Invitation for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's UK visit rescinded
  • A new 'Magnitsky law' to strengthen sanctions on human rights abusers
  • Urgent new laws to 'harden our defences against all forms of hostile state activity'
  • This will include a targeted power to detain those suspected of hostile state activity at the UK border. This is currently only allowed for terror suspects
  • Increased checks on private flights, customs and freight
  • Freeze Russian state assets if they may be used to threaten life or property of UK nationals or residents
  • Other covert measures that "cannot be shared publicly for reasons of National Security"

Mr Corbyn’s refusal to blame Moscow came despite him being shown secret evidence on Privy Council terms.

Mr Corbyn's spokesman deepened the row by insisting there were still "two possibilities" - either Russia committed the act, or simply lost control of the nerve agent.

The spokesman added British intelligence had been "problematic" before - such as about Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq.

Nia Griffith, the shadow defence secretary, publicly questioned the connection drawn by Corbyn’s spokesman between intelligence in the Salisbury case and the “dodgy dossier” that helped make the case for the Iraq war.

“I think the two situations are very different,” she told the BBC’s Today programme.