The Washington Post called on the United States to join Great Britain is punishing Russia for using a military grade nerve agent in an attempted assassination.
The newspaper's comments came in an editorial posted Wednesday evening.
"The use of a military-grade Russian nerve agent in an attack inside Britain shows that Western governments are failing to deter the regime of Vladimir Putin from increasingly audacious acts of aggression," the newspaper said.
"The British government's conclusion that it is 'highly likely' that Russia carried out the attempted assassination of a former spy and his daughter follows by weeks a military assault, backed by artillery and tanks, by Russian irregulars on U.S. positions in Syria.
"That in turn follows Moscow's attempts to interfere in multiple Western elections in recent months, and repeated incursions by Russian warplanes into Western airspace."
The Post noted Great Britain has now announced the expulsion of 23 suspected Russian spies. But the newspaper maintained it will take more than action from London to stop Putin.
"A concerted response by the Western alliance is needed," the newspaper said.
Still, the Post pointed out the action is stronger than "the relatively weak British response to the killing of another former spy, Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006.
"Though the new British sanctions package is more forceful, it needs to be backed up by other Western governments, starting with the United States," the newspaper added.
But the Post said the U.S. has still not "implemented sanctions mandated by Congress in response to past Russia offenses."
"It is imperative that the United States support its closest ally when it has been subject to such extraordinary aggression," the newspaper said.
"In the absence of such action, Mr. Putin's ambitions, and his audacity, will only escalate further."
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