BBC Online :
Russian President Vladimir Putin is “overwhelmingly likely” to have ordered the nerve agent attack on an ex-spy and his daughter, Boris Johnson has said.
The foreign secretary said “our quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin, and with his decision” over the Salisbury incident. Russia denies involvement and said the accusations against Mr Putin were “shocking and unforgivable”. Meanwhile, the head of Nato told the BBC Russia has underestimated the “resolve and unity” of the UK’s allies. Speaking during a visit to a west London military bunker with the Polish foreign minister, Mr Johnson said the UK’s “quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin”. “We think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to
direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War,” he said. Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital, after they were found unconscious on a bench in the Wiltshire city on 4 March.
The UK government says they were poisoned with a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia called Novichok and PM Theresa May said she believed Moscow was “culpable”.
Mrs May has said the UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats as part of a “full and robust” response – prompting Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to say it will “certainly” expel British diplomats in response.
According to Russian news agency Tass, the Russian ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, said the UK claimed the nerve agent used was A-234, but this has not been confirmed. The implication of the ambassador’s comments is that the Russians have been told by the British the exact nerve agent deployed.
So far, British officials have not confirmed that they have communicated this to Moscow or that that the A-234 was the exact agent deployed. Based on public sources, A-234 is one of the Novichok family of agents.
It has been reported that it is at least five to eight and possibly 10 times as strong as VX.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is “overwhelmingly likely” to have ordered the nerve agent attack on an ex-spy and his daughter, Boris Johnson has said.
The foreign secretary said “our quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin, and with his decision” over the Salisbury incident. Russia denies involvement and said the accusations against Mr Putin were “shocking and unforgivable”. Meanwhile, the head of Nato told the BBC Russia has underestimated the “resolve and unity” of the UK’s allies. Speaking during a visit to a west London military bunker with the Polish foreign minister, Mr Johnson said the UK’s “quarrel is with Putin’s Kremlin”. “We think it overwhelmingly likely that it was his decision to
direct the use of a nerve agent on the streets of the UK, on the streets of Europe, for the first time since the Second World War,” he said. Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and daughter Yulia Skripal, 33, remain critically ill in hospital, after they were found unconscious on a bench in the Wiltshire city on 4 March.
The UK government says they were poisoned with a nerve agent of a type developed by Russia called Novichok and PM Theresa May said she believed Moscow was “culpable”.
Mrs May has said the UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats as part of a “full and robust” response – prompting Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to say it will “certainly” expel British diplomats in response.
According to Russian news agency Tass, the Russian ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, said the UK claimed the nerve agent used was A-234, but this has not been confirmed. The implication of the ambassador’s comments is that the Russians have been told by the British the exact nerve agent deployed.
So far, British officials have not confirmed that they have communicated this to Moscow or that that the A-234 was the exact agent deployed. Based on public sources, A-234 is one of the Novichok family of agents.
It has been reported that it is at least five to eight and possibly 10 times as strong as VX.
