Ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted that chemical weapons remains the red line for all countries concerning the decision-making process, as the legitimacy of Bashar Assad's power in Syria is always being linked to the issue of chemical weapons by Western countries and the US-led coalition.

"Before, we were told that Assad just had to leave, because he was bad but then this concept was abandoned. Now they say that he is bad and must leave because he violates international law using chemical weapons in Syria," she said.

"Thus, inventing the story about the alleged use of chemical weapons by Russia on British soil, Western countries are trying to push Russia aside from the legal field of discussion of issues pertaining to the chemical weapons in Syria. Under the pretext that there is nothing to talk about with Russia, as they claim Russia has used chemical weapons in Europe," Zakharova added.

Earlier in the day, the British side presented its own version of why Russia proposed to convene an extraordinary session of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Council. According to the UK ermament representative to the OPCW John Foggo, Russia wants to use the organization's meeting scheduled for April 4, the date on which a year ago a chemical attack in Syria's Khan Sheikhoun took place, in order to make a political statement.

"For all of us gathered here, it is very sad to admit that chemical weapons attacks continue not only in Syria. Today marks exactly one month since the usage of the nerve agent here in Europe," he said.

Russia would like to receive clarifications from US State Department after accounts of Russian media outlets were blocked on Facebook, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

"We expect an official reaction to this situation from US authorities … we would very much like to hear official comments from the US State Department," she told a briefing.

She called on Facebook to specify its issues with Russian media accounts and explain reasons behind its decision to block them.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Federal News Agency (FAN) said that Facebook had blocked its official page without any warning. Also on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company blocked more than 270 accounts and pages run by Russia's Internet Research Agency.

Moscow summoned the Ukrainian temporary charge d'affaires in Russia on Wednesday to protest the detention of a Russian ship and to demand the release of its crew as well as the return of the vessel, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

"On April 3, the charge d'affaires ad interim of Ukraine in the Russian Federation was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry where he was handed a protest note in connection with the illegal detention of Russian fishing vessel Nord by the Ukrainian Border Guard Service on March 25 in the Sea of Azov, the transfer of the vessel to the port of Berdyansk and illegal custody of its 10 Russian crew members," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted.

READ MORE: Russian Navy Disproves Dangerous Manoeuveres between Russian and UK Vessels

According to Zakharova, Moscow demanded the immediate release of the illegally detained crew and the return of the vessel to its legitimate owner.

On March 26, Ukrainian border guards detained the Russian ship Nord, claiming that its crew had violated the sea border. The Russian Foreign Ministry demands the Ukrainian side to return the captured ship, which is in the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, and to release the crew.</s>Russia will take its complaints over the Salisbury nerve agent attack to The Hague the day after the Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agent’s precise source.

An extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been called by Russia to “address the situation around allegations of non-compliance” with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

Russia has denied responsibility and demanded access to the British investigation into the March 4 attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The Foreign Office accused Russia of attempting to undermine the work of the OPCW and engaging in “another diversionary tactic”.

It comes a day after the head of Porton Down said his scientists have not verified that the nerve agent used in Salisbury came from Russia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

“Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

“This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.”

Wednesday’s meeting of the OPCW executive council at The Hague will be held behind closed doors.

Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Government’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), said the poison used in Salisbury had been identified as a military-grade Novichok nerve agent which could probably be deployed only by a nation-state.

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Down’s role to work out where the agent came from and suggested the Government’s conclusion that it was highly likely to have come from Russia was based on “a number of other sources”.

President Vladimir Putin, citing Mr Aitkenhead, called for a thorough investigation into the poisoning during a visit to Turkey, where he said “the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment.”

Porton Down’s identification of the substance used in the attack on the Skripals as Novichok was a key plank in the evidence presented by the UK in Theresa May’s successful bid to recruit international support in the dispute with Moscow, resulting in the expulsion of more than 100 Russian diplomats from over 20 countries.

German politician Armin Laschet, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: “If one forces nearly all Nato countries into solidarity, shouldn’t one have certain evidence?

“Regardless of what one thinks about Russia, my study of international law taught me a different way to deal with other states.”

Mr Aitkenhead also rejected Russian claims the substance could have come from Porton Down.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules.

“But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour, as well as a new and dangerous phase in Russian activity within the continent and beyond.”</s>Russia has demanded the UK present "every possible element of evidence" that it was responsible for the Salisbury nerve agent attack on a former spy that triggered a global diplomatic row and plunged its relationship with many Western nations to lows not seen since the Cold War.

Yury Filatov, Moscow's ambassador to Ireland, said it had asked the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which has been investigating at the scene of the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daugher, Yulia, to call an extraordinary session in The Hague tomorrow.

"We hope to discuss the whole matter and call on Britain to provide every possible element of evidence they might have in their hands," he said.

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

"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."

Moscow has consistently denied being responsible for the chemical attack, which left Mr Skripal and his daughter fighting for their lives in hospital, and prompted Britain and two dozen of its allies to expel more than 150 Russian diplomats. Russia has ordered the same number to leave in a tit-for-tat response.

Mr Filatov claimed people in Europe do not trust the British government's version of events.

"Even countries which took part in solidarity demands (expelling diplomats) have doubts," he said.

"Britain acted, as we know, on grounds that have nothing to do with Salisbury but mainly to do with some other agenda."

The ambassador's demand came on the same day a former Russian general said that the attack could trigger "the last war in the history of mankind".

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Evgeny Buzhinsky said that the West is "cornering Russia and to corner Russia is a very dangerous thing."

"If the situation develops in the way it is now, it will end up in a very bad outcome," he added.

Shape Created with Sketch. UK news in pictures Show all 50 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. UK news in pictures 1/50 A penny farthing cyclist rides past St. John's, Smith Square, Westminster, London. PA 2/50 8 September 2019 Australia celebrate the wicket of England's Craig Overton, which meant they won the fourth test and retained the Ashes. Action Images via Reuters 3/50 7 September 2019 Manchester City celebrate after Caroline Weir scored during their Women's Super League match against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. The WSL attendance record was smashed with 31,213 people watching the first Manchester derby of Women’s Super League era – nearly six times the previous WSL record. Getty 4/50 6 September 2019 A bull bumps into a plain clothes police officer (left) while being walked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson during his visit to Darnford Farm in Banchory near Aberdeen. 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When asked what he meant, the General said: "A real war, it will be the last war in the history of mankind."

Asked whether there was a real risk of triggering a war, a spokesman for the Theresa May said Britain was responding to the attack in a "proportionate way".

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"We need to respond in a proportionate way to this aggressive behaviour from Russia and that's what we're doing," the spokesman said.

On Monday, Russia's foreign minister accused the UK of "putting all decency aside" over its claims that Moscow is to blame for the poisoning.

Sergei Lavrov appeared to suggest UK secret services may have been involved in the March 4 attack in Salisbury, which he said the British government may have found "beneficial" as a distraction from Brexit.

Mr Lavrov said it was "outrageous" Britain had failed to provide consular access to Ms Skripal since it emerged that her condition was improving.

His comments came as the Russian Embassy in London issued a series of what it termed "questions without answer" about the Skripal case - including whether the UK had ever produced novichok.

Britain has consistently maintained the Russian state must be behind the attack.

Agencies contributed to this report</s>It is difficult to obtain 100% proof in cases such as the Sergey Skripal poisoning. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't demand as much evidence — from our politicians and law enforcement — as possible.

The UK Government has not presented conclusive evidence that the nerve agent used in the attempted assassinations of Sergey Skripal and his daughter Yulia originated in Russia, let alone that the Russian state was responsible for these crimes.

The Prime Minister’s statement to the House of Commons on 12 March 2018 said:

“It is now clear that Mr Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia. It is part of a group of nerve agents known as Novichok.

“Based on the positive identification of this chemical agent by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so, Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations and our assessment that Russia views some defectors as legitimate targets for assassinations, the Government have concluded that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the act against Sergei and Yulia Skripal.”

That is a heroic effort to connect the Russian state with the attempted assassinations, but it is almost entirely devoid of facts that do so.

To make a connection, the ideal scenario would have been that, having carried out the relevant analysis on the nerve agent used, Porton Down scientists were able to state unequivocally that it was manufactured in Russia. Clearly, they were not able to do so, otherwise it would have been at the heart of the Prime Minister’s message to the House of Commons on 12 March.

Think of the difference it would have made to her case that Russia was responsible if she had been had been able to say:

“Our world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down have established that the agent used was produced in Russia”.

Instead, in trying to prove that the Russian state responsible, the Prime Minister had to make do with saying that the nerve agent used was “of a type developed by Russia” and “Russia has previously produced this agent and would still be capable of doing so”. That raises the possibility that Russia may have been the source of the nerve agent, but it is a long way from proof.

And it certainly doesn’t rule out the possibility of another state (or even a non-state entity) being responsible for its manufacture. In her statement, the Prime Minister did not attempt to argue that no state other than Russia is capable of manufacturing the agent used in Salisbury.

On 20 March, the New Scientist said that “several countries could have made the nerve agent used in the chemical attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal”. It also said that “other countries legally created Novichok for testing purposes after its existence was revealed in 1992 and a production method has even been published” by Iranian scientists in 2016. The creation of Novichok for testing purposes is legal under the Chemical Weapons Convention, partly so that agents can be identified in situations like Salisbury. The UK may be one of those countries: in an interview with Deutsche Welle on 20 March, Boris Johnston was asked if Porton Down possesses samples of Novichok: he replied “they do”.

Former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, who has commented extensively on the fallout from the events in Salisbury on 4 March, wrote the following on 16 March:

“I have now received confirmation from a well-placed FCO [Foreign & Commonwealth Office] source that Porton Down scientists are not able to identify the nerve agent as being of Russian manufacture, and have been resentful of the pressure being placed on them to do so. Porton Down would only sign up to the formulation ‘of a type developed by Russia’ after a rather difficult meeting where this was agreed as a compromise formulation.”

On 14 March, the Prime Minister returned to the House of Commons to declare Russia guilty of the attempted assassinations and to pronounce sentence (which was the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats and a range of other measures).

On that occasion, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tried to do his job as Leader of the Opposition and seek information about the progress of the investigation. In particular, he asked the Prime Minister if tests had been done on the nerve agent at Porton Down to try to identify its origin and those responsible:

“Has high-resolution trace analysis been run on a sample of the nerve agent, and has that revealed any evidence as to the location of its production or the identity of its perpetrators?”

An answer to that question would have revealed that Porton Down scientists were unable to establish the location of the agent’s production. Understandably, the Prime Minister didn’t answer that question (and others from him), since having already declared Russia guilty exploring the evidence for its guilt was redundant. Instead, she rounded on him for failing to endorse wholeheartedly the guilty verdict she had declared.

On 27 September 2017, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) announced that it had verified the completion of the destruction of Russia's chemical weapons programme. Understandably, the Prime Minister didn’t mention this relevant fact in her indictment of Russia in the House of Commons on 12 March.

Of course, this doesn’t absolutely exclude the possibility that Russia continues to hold chemical weapons stocks and/or production facilities. On the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on 18 March Boris Johnson claimed just that, saying:

“We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purpose of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.”

And the Prime Minister told the House of Commons something similar on 26 March. But neither gave any evidence.

The OPCW is the international body charged with the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Convention, which came into force on 29 April 1997, bans the acquisition and use of chemical weapons and requires state parties to destroy existing stocks and production facilities upon joining.

However, state parties are allowed to produce small quantities of chemical agents, in order to develop countermeasures to them (see UK Government document The Truth About Porton Down). If Boris Johnson is to be believed, Porton Down possesses samples of Novichok.

States that joined prior to the Convention coming into force were allowed 10 years to complete the destruction of their stocks and production facilities. Both the US and Russia were unable to fulfil that requirement and had to be given additional time to complete the destruction. US is now the only state party to the Convention that still hasn’t fulfilled that requirement – it is scheduled to do so in 2023. All the states in the world apart from Egypt, Israel, North Korea and South Sudan are now parties to the Convention.

On 27 September 2017, the OPCW Director-General, Ahmet Üzümcü, congratulated Russia in the following terms:

“The completion of the verified destruction of Russia's chemical weapons programme is a major milestone in the achievement of the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention. I congratulate Russia and I commend all of their experts who were involved for their professionalism and dedication…”

Addressing a conference of OPCW state parties in November 2017, the UK Ambassador to the OPCW, Peter Wilson, praised Director-General Üzümcü and listed his achievements during the year. These included: “the completion of the verified destruction of Russia’s declared chemical weapons programme.”

He didn’t qualify this achievement in any way: he didn’t suggest that Russia had an undeclared Novichok programme. The UK was, apparently, content that all of Russia’s chemical weapons stocks and production facilities had been eliminated. It is strange that a few months later the UK is claiming that Russia is “creating and stockpiling Novichok” and “investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purpose of assassination”.

Article IX.1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention lays down that state parties to the Convention “shall consult and cooperate, directly among themselves, or through the Organization (OPCW) … on any matter which may be raised relating to the object and purpose … of this Convention”.

Article IX.2 stipulates that state parties “should, whenever possible, first make every effort to clarify and resolve, through exchange of information and consultations among themselves, any matter which may cause doubt about compliance with this Convention”. A request for information from one state to another should be answered appropriately “as soon as possible, but in any case not later than 10 days after the request”.

The attempted assassination of Sergey Skripal and daughter certainly caused “doubt about compliance with the Convention”. Under Article IX of the Convention, it was the clear duty of the UK to co-operate with other state parties including Russia (and the OPCW) to investigate this matter.

Instead, in the House of Commons on 12 March, the Prime Minister declared that the Russian state was responsible – in her words:

“There are, therefore, only two plausible explanations for what happened in Salisbury on 4 March: either this was a direct act by the Russian state against our country; or the Russian Government lost control of their potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

By the time she spoke, the Russian ambassador had been summoned to the Foreign Office and asked “to explain which of the two possibilities it is and to account for how this Russian-produced nerve agent could have been deployed in Salisbury against Mr Skripal and his daughter” (in her words). And he was told “that the Russian Federation must immediately provide full and complete disclosure of the Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and he has requested the Russian Government’s response by the end of tomorrow”.

That procedure was not designed to elicit information from a fellow state party to the Convention, information which might throw light on the origin of the nerve agent used in Salisbury and who used it. On the contrary, it was an ultimatum requiring the Russian state to plead guilty, not merely to the attempted assassinations, but also to having a Novichok production programme. Understandably, Russia refused to respond.

This refusal has been interpreted by the UK government and others as evidence of guilt. In fact, unlike the UK, Russia has tried to act in accordance with its obligations under Article IX.2, offering to respond within 10 days to any UK request for information. However, the UK has not taken up this offer and it has also refused to supply Russia with a sample of the nerve agent used in the attack for testing by Russian experts (see Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs document dated 21 March). The Russian Embassy requested access to Julia Skripal, who is a Russian citizen, but that was also refused.

After declaring the Russian state guilty without any independent input, the UK did eventually seek technical assistance from the OPCW. The Prime Minister told the House of Commons on 12 March that “we are working with the police to enable the OPCW to independently verify our analysis”.

Technical experts from the OPCW are in Salisbury at the time of writing (26 March). Court permission has been obtained for blood samples to be taken from Sergei and Yulia Skripal. This was necessary because both are unable to give permission themselves. According to the court judgement, the OPCW technical experts intend (a) to undertake their own analysis of the freshly taken blood samples for evidence of nerve agents and (b) to retest the samples already analysed by Porton Down scientists. These had originally “tested positive for the presence of a Novichok class nerve agent or closely related agent”, according to the judgement.

What motivated Putin to do it?

On 16 March, Boris Johnson declared that it was "overwhelmingly likely" that Vladimir Putin personally ordered the attack against Sergei Skripal. But what motivated Putin to do it? To that question, the Foreign Secretary gave no answer.

At the time of the attack, a presidential election, in which he was expected to have an overwhelming victory, was imminent; in a few months’ time, Russia was going to host the World Cup and he would have the honour of presenting the Cup to the winning team. Why would he risk having this disrupted?

The attempted assassination of Sergey Skripal – a Russian who had spied for Britain using a nerve agent with Russian associations – was always going to be blamed on the Russian state and its president, whether or not the evidence warranted such a conclusion. Diplomatic and economic retaliation against Russia by Britain and its allies was inevitable. Disruption of the World Cup by, for example, the withdrawal of some of the competing countries was a possibility. At the time of writing (26 March), it looks as if the response is going to be largely diplomatic, but just imagine the reaction if more British citizens had been injured or even killed in the attack.

If Putin ordered the attack, he must have been prepared to risk this kind of retaliation and worse. But what could he possibly hope to gain by doing so? It has been suggested that, in attempting to kill Sergei Skripal, he was acting on the principle that traitors should be executed. Proponents of this theory have quoted remarks he made in December 2010, which could be interpreted as a warning that those who betray the country would face lethal consequences:

“Traitors will kick the bucket, believe me. … Whatever they got in exchange for it, those 30 pieces of silver they were given, they will choke on them.”

But why wait until the spring of 2018 before attempting to execute Sergei Skripal, when he was convicted for spying for Britain in 2006? And why, after 12 years of waiting, choose to do it two weeks before the presidential election and with the World Cup in the offing? Why not delay it to the autumn, for instance?

Also, why use a nerve gas with Russian associations in executing traitors or political opponents, which makes it easy for the finger to be pointed at Russia, whether the evidence justifies it or not? If a hand gun had been used to kill Sergei Skripal in Salisbury on 4 March, most likely he would be dead (and his daughter would be alive). Most likely also, the UK would not have been able to pin the murder on Russia and get international support for diplomatic sanctions against Russia.

The attempted killing of Sergey Skripal has had negative consequences for President Putin and the Russian state — consequences, though mostly diplomatic to date, that were entirely predictable. Those who ordered the killing would have known that there would be negative consequences for President Putin and the Russian state.

One could for forgiven for thinking that those who ordered the killing were opponents of President Putin.</s>The world's chemical weapons watchdog said it would hold a meeting at Russia's request Wednesday to discuss Britain's allegations that Moscow was behind the poisoning of an ex-spy in England.

"The chairperson of the Executive Council... has received a request by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation... to convene a meeting of the Executive Council," the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said Tuesday on its website.

It said the meeting behind closed doors will start at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) at the OPCW's headquarters in The Hague.

Britain has said it is "highly likely" that Moscow was responsible for an attempt to poison former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the quiet English city of Salisbury on March 4.

London has accused Russia of using the Novichok nerve agent, developed in the latter days of the Soviet Union. Moscow has angrily denied any involvement.

In a letter dated last Thursday, Russia's ambassador to the OPCW Alexander Shulgin asked for the meeting to discuss the British allegations "in a confidential sitting".

After the poisoning, Britain announced it would expel 23 Russian diplomats, the first in a series of moves in diplomatic retaliation against Moscow by western countries.

Britain suspended high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow and said it would not send any members of its royal family to the football World Cup Russia is hosting in June.

In response Russia expelled 23 British diplomats, closed a British consulate in Saint Petersburg and halted the activities of the British Council educational and cultural organisation.</s>NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Canada Tuesday for a two-day visit that will include meetings with Gov. Gen. Julie Payette and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as other high-ranking officials.

On Wednesday, Stoltenberg will participate in a Town Hall event at the University of Ottawa, delivering remarks and taking questions from students, according to a press release by the NATO’s press service.

Stoltenberg will also attend a reception hosted by the NATO Association of Canada and the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, marking the 69thanniversary of the alliance, the press release said.

He will also meet Canada’s top soldier Gen. Jonathan Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, as well as other senior officials, the statement said.

Stoltenberg’s visit to Canada comes amid heightened tensions with Russia over allegations that the Kremlin is behind the poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer recruited by Britain Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who were attacked with a nerve agent on March 4 in Salisbury.

Canada joined more than two dozen Western countries that collectively expelled over 120 Russian diplomats last week. Ottawa kicked out four Russian diplomats and denied accreditation to three others, accusing them of being Russian spies working under diplomatic cover. Russia responded by expelling four Canadian diplomats.

The Kremlin has denied any involvement in the attack on Skripal, who was convicted and jailed for betraying several Russian spies in Britain before he was transferred to the United Kingdom in a spy swap.

Russia has demanded access to the British investigation, pointing out that Yulia Skripal is a Russian citizen who lives and works in Russia. At the Kremlin’s request the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) will hold a special session on Wednesday in the Hague on the Salisbury poisoning.

“We have raised 20 questions for discussion (at the meeting). I hope that during this discussion a final line on what has happened will be drawn,” Russian President Vladimir Putin told a news conference during a visit to the Turkish capital Ankara.

The meeting in the Hague comes as scientists at a top British military research laboratory in Porton Down admitted that they have not been able to establish where the nerve agent used to poison the Skripals was made.

Gary Aitkenhead, chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down, told Sky News they were not yet able to prove it was made in Russia.

“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,” Aitkenhead told Sky News.

However, Aitkenhead said the substance required “extremely sophisticated methods to create, something only in the capabilities of a state actor”.

Western governments have blamed Russia for what Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland has described as a “despicable, heinous and reckless act, potentially endangering the lives of hundreds.”

With files from CBC News and Reuters</s>Russia and Britain faced off Wednesday trading accusations at a tense meeting of the world's chemical weapons watchdog, as Moscow accused British and US secret services of being behind the poisoning of a Russian former double agent.

London slammed as "perverse" a Russian proposal for a joint probe into the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a nerve agent, dismissing it as a "diversionary tactic".

But Russian officials hit back that accusations of Moscow engineering the attack were a "grotesque provocation ... crudely concocted by the British and American security services".

British authorities say the Skripals were poisoned with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok in the town of Salisbury on March 4, and said it was "highly likely" Moscow was behind it.

The crisis has sent the long-difficult relations between Russia and the West plummeting to new lows. Both sides have already expelled scores of diplomats.

Britain has also suspended high-level diplomatic contact with Moscow.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin warned Wednesday in a speech in Moscow that both sides must avoid tensions escalating to the dangerous levels seen at the height of the Cold War.

At a closed-door meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, convened at the request of Moscow, Russia insisted it was ready to cooperate.

"We consider this is necessary to ensure that this problem is solved within the (international) legal framework," the Russian embassy to the Netherlands said in a Tweet.

It added that it had won backing from 14 other countries on the OPCW's governing executive council and its statement was "supported by solid facts by experts in this field".

But the British delegation to the OPCW said "Russia's proposal for a joint, UK/Russian investigation into the Salisbury incident is perverse. It is a diversionary tactic."

Moscow was seeking to "evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer," it added in a tweet."

The British defence laboratory analysing the nerve agent revealed Tuesday that it could not say whether the substance came from Russia. Moscow hailed that as a vindication of its repeated denials of involvement.

Russia's ambassador to the Netherlands and deputy minister for industry and trade Georgy Kalamanov attended the OPCW meeting, along with British chemical weapons expert and acting permanent representative to OPCW John Foggo.

A diplomatic source, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Russia had tabled a motion asking the OPCW to "involve Russia in some way or another in the investigation".

He described the atmosphere inside the meeting as "heavy" but said the talks were set to continue after a break for lunch.

The OPCW's experts have taken samples from the site in Salisbury and sent them to certified laboratories for analysis, but are still awaiting the results.

"But today the Russians have called a meeting of the executive council even before anything has been published," the source said.

Under the rules of the Chemical Weapons Convention it is up to Britain to lead the inquiry, with technical assistance from the OPCW which is acting in a "totally independent manner," the source said.

Russia has accused the West of wanting to put up a new Iron Curtain and warned of a return to the mutual isolation of the Cold War.

For Washington, "fighting the non-existent so-called Russian threat has become a real fixation," foreign intelligence chief Naryshkin said.

"It has reached such proportions and developed such ludicrous characteristics, that it's time to talk about the return of the grim times of the Cold War."

He urged the need "to stop the use of force in relations between states, not to bring matters to a new Cuban Missile Crisis".

That was a reference to the 1962 standoff between the Soviet Union and the United States that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

The Kremlin has also demanded an apology from British Prime Minister Theresa May and her government for implicating Russian President Vladimir Putin in the attack, saying this "idiocy has gone too far".</s>Russia has called an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague to discuss the UK’s claim that Moscow was behind the attack.

The EU said it was “very concerned” Russia is considering rejecting the findings of the body.

Yesterday UK experts said they could not prove that Russian agents poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

The union also said that it is “imperative” that Russia co-operate with the chemical weapons watchdog to find out who carried out the first known attack with nerve agent since the end of the Second World War.

Scientists at the Porton Down military research facility haven’t been able to establish exactly where the novichok nerve agent was manufactured, however the German government said that “nothing has changed” regarding their position of support toward the UK.</s>Russia’s proposal for a parallel joint inquiry into the poisoning of a Russian former double agent in England is a “perverse” attempt to escape blame, Britain told an emergency meeting of the global chemical weapons watchdog on Wednesday.

Moscow convened the meeting at the Hague of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ decision-making executive to counter accusations by Britain that it was behind the March 4th poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve toxin in the English city of Salisbury.

In a tweet, the British delegation said Moscow’s idea was “perverse . . . a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russian authorities must answer”.

John Foggo, Britain’s acting envoy to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said Russian assertions that the attack may have been carried out by Britain, the US or Sweden were “shameless, preposterous statements . . .

“It seems clear that Russia will never accept the legitimacy of any investigation into chemical weapons use unless it comes up with an answer Russia likes,” Foggo said in a statement to the closed-door meeting.

The EU also dismissed the proposal and diplomats said it was unlikely to be approved by the required two-thirds majority of the 41-nation executive of the OPCW.

Russia said it had the support of 14 countries. “We believe it is crucial to ensure this problem be resolved within the legal framework using the entire potential of the OPCW,” Russia’s representative to the watchdog, Aleksandr Shulgin, was quoted by the Russian news agency Tass as telling the meeting.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the OPCW should draw a line under a case that has triggered the worst crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War, with retaliatory, tit-for-tat expulsions of scores of diplomats.

Scientists at the Porton Down biological and chemical weapons laboratory in England have concluded that the toxin was among a category of Soviet-era nerve agents called Novichok, though they could not yet determine whether it was made in Russia.

Moscow denies any involvement in the attack and accuses Britain of whipping up anti-Russian hysteria in the West.

The OPCW, which oversees the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, has taken samples from the site of the Salisbury attack and is expected to provide results from testing next week.

Shulgin said earlier that if Moscow was prevented from taking part in the testing of the Salisbury toxin samples, it would reject the outcome of the OPCW research.

The EU said it was very concerned Moscow was considering rejecting the OPCW findings.

“It is imperative that the Russian Federation responds to the British government’s legitimate questions, begins to co-operate with the OPCW secretariat and provides full and complete disclosure to the OPCW of any programme with relevance to the case,” said an EU statement read to the council session.

The statement said that instead of co-operating with the OPCW, Russia had unleashed “a flood of insinuations targeting EU member states . . .This is completely unacceptable.”

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia’s foreign intelligence agency chief said the poisoning of Skripal was an act of provocation by US and British intelligence services.

“Even in the Skripal case, a grotesque provocation crudely concocted by US and British security services, some European governments are not following London and Washington blindly but are instead choosing to carefully make sense of what happened,” Sergei Naryshkin said.

Skripal remains in a critical but stable condition, while his daughter has shown signs of improvement.

Russia has said that a relative of the Skripals is planning to visit them in hospital.

A spokeswoman for the ministry of foreign affairs in Moscow said that Viktoria Skripal had been in contact with the Russian embassy in London and said she wanted to offer “moral and psychological support” to her relatives.</s>Russia will take its complaints over the Salisbury nerve agent attack to The Hague the day after the Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agent's precise source.

An extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been called by Russia to 'address the situation around allegations of non-compliance' with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

Russia has denied responsibility and demanded access to the British investigation into the March 4 attack on former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

The Foreign Office accused Russia of attempting to undermine the work of the OPCW and engaging in 'another diversionary tactic'.

It comes a day after the head of Porton Down said his scientists have not verified that the nerve agent used in Salisbury came from Russia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: 'Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack.

'Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator.

'This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion.'

Today's meeting of the OPCW executive council at The Hague will be held behind closed doors.

It comes after Vladimir Putin last night claimed 20 countries could have poisoned the Skripals.

The head of the Porton Down military research facility said it had not yet been possible to say where the Novichok used in the attack was made.

Gary Aitkenhead confirmed the poison had been produced by a 'state actor', saying: 'It's a military-grade nerve agent which requires extremely sophisticated methods in order to create – something that's probably only within the capabilities of a state actor.'

But he told Sky News it was not Porton Down's role to work out its origin and said the Government relied on 'a number of different input sources' in coming to its assessment that this was highly likely to be from Russia.

Mr Aitkenhead flatly denied bizarre Russian claims the substance could have come from Porton Down itself.

Downing Street last night said Mr Aitkenhead's comments made no difference to the Government's assessment that the attack emanated from Russia, which was based only partly on the evidence from Porton Down.

Sources said allies, who have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats in response to the attack, had already been briefed on the intelligence assessments that put the blame on Moscow.

But there was irritation in Whitehall at Mr Aitkenhead's 'clumsy' intervention, as ministers privately braced for a fresh wave of Kremlin propaganda.

Last night Mr Putin seized on the admission to call for a full inquiry, saying 'the speed at which the anti-Russian campaign has been launched causes bewilderment'.

He claimed the nerve agent could have been made in any of 20 countries.

The Russian Embassy in London said: 'We understood from the very start that UK Government statements on the nerve agent having been produced in Russia were a bluff. Now this has been confirmed by the head of the secret lab.'

But Salisbury MP John Glen said he had 'absolutely no doubt' about Russia's involvement, adding: 'I don't mind what propaganda emerges from the Kremlin.'

Government sources stressed the chemical analysis from Porton Down was only 'one part of the intelligence picture' in the decision to point the finger at Russia.

A Government spokesman said: 'As the Prime Minister has set out in a number of statements ... since March 12, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichok; Russia's record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.

'It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation.'

There was irritation at Mr Aitkenhead's decision to give an interview that could allow the Kremlin to sow further disinformation.

One Whitehall source said Mr Aitkenhead had 'not realised what he has said', adding: 'The scientists' job is to determine what the chemical is. Intelligence agencies and other bodies ascertain where it is from. There is no other explanation than this has come from the Russian state.'

The row came ahead of a meeting in The Hague today of the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to discuss the Salisbury attack.

The meeting was called by Russia to 'address the situation around allegations of non-compliance' with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

The Foreign Office dismissed it as a 'diversionary tactic'.

But German politician Armin Laschet, an ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, said: 'If one forces nearly all Nato countries into solidarity, shouldn't one have certain evidence?

'Regardless of what one thinks about Russia, my study of international law taught me a different way to deal with other states.'

Meanwhile, retired Russian lieutenant-general Evgeny Buzhinsky warned that relations between Russia and the West could 'end up in a very, very bad outcome'.

Asked to elaborate, he told BBC Radio 4's Today: 'A real war, worse than a cold war ... it will be the last war in the history of mankind.'

Commenting on his remarks, No 10 said: 'As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK would much rather have in Russia a constructive partner ready to play by the rules. But this attack in Salisbury was part of a pattern of increasingly aggressive Russian behaviour.'
Russia requests for the United Kingdom to release "every possible element of evidence" proving Russian involvement and requests the Executive Council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to call a special session tomorrow.