Theresa May calls on spy chiefs to gather embarrassing intelligence on Putin in revenge for Salisbury attack

THERESA May has tasked spy chiefs to devise covert operations to embarrass Vladimir Putin and his oligarch cronies in revenge for the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Ministers want the deniable operations mounted against senior Kremlin figures, which are likely to include exposing their vast treasure troves of hidden wealth.

A senior security source told The Sun: “We’re going to play Putin at his own game. The gloves are off now”.

Eavesdropping experts GCHQ have some of the world’s best hackers and can penetrate well hidden money trails.

Some estimates even make the Russian president the richest man in the world, with a stashed away fortune of £80bn.

Exposing his riches would deeply embarrass Putin in front of Russian electors as he goes to the polls on Sunday.

The PM was yesterday expected to declare the use of Novichok as “an unlawful use of force by the Russian State against the United Kingdom”, which will give Britain the legal justification for retaliation.

But senior government sources dismissed claims yesterday that Britain will mount a cyber attack on Russia to punish the country.