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| Salisbury poisoning: UK experts cannot prove novichok nerve agent used on Skripals came from Russia, say MoD | Salisbury poisoning: UK experts cannot prove novichok nerve agent used on Skripals came from Russia, say MoD |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| British scientists cannot prove that the novichok nerve agent used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was made in Russia, the military laboratory which tested it has said. | British scientists cannot prove that the novichok nerve agent used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter was made in Russia, the military laboratory which tested it has said. |
| Experts at the Porton Down research laboratory have been unable to establish the chemical’s country of origin, the chief executive of the Ministry of Defence facility told Sky News. | |
| The admission comes after Russia demanded the UK present “every possible element of evidence” that it was responsible for the suspected assassination attempt that has triggered a global diplomatic row and plunged Moscow’s relationship with many western nations to lows not seen since the Cold War. | |
| The Kremlin denies any involvement in the 4 March attack, which left Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia fighting for life, but the British government has said there is“no other plausible explanation”. | |
| Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory near Salisbury, Wiltshire, said the nerve agent required “extremely sophisticated methods to create, something only in the capabilities of a state actor”. | |
| But he added scientists could not say it was produced in Russia. | |
| He said: “We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was military-grade nerve agent. | |
| “We have not identified the precise source, but we have provided the scientific info to government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions you have come to.” | |
| Novichoks are a group of powerful nerve agents secretly developed by the Soviet Union. | |
| Some experts have suggested other countries may have developed stock of the chemicals in order to defend against it, while there are also fears small amounts may have been smuggled out of Russian facilities following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992. | |
| Mr Aitkenhead would not comment on whether his laboratory kept supples of novichoks, but dismissed the suggestion the agent used in the Salisbury attack could have come from Porton Down. | |
| “There is no way anything like that could have come from us or left the four walls of our facility,” he said. | |
| The international chemical weapons watchdog is to hold an extraordinary session on Wednesday to discuss the Salisbury poisoning and Russia’s alleged involvement. | |
| “We hope to discuss the whole matter and call on Britain to provide every possible element of evidence they might have in their hands,” said Yury Filatov, Moscow’s ambassador to Ireland, ahead of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons meeting in The Hague. | |
| He added: “Russia is interested in establishing the whole truth of the matter and we hope certainly that this meeting will help to return to at least the realm of normality within the realm of international law and, let’s put it, decency in international relations.” | |
| More follows… | More follows… |