Jill Lawless and Danica Kirka, The Associated Press 

 



LONDON -- The international chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday confirmed Britain's finding that a former spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent, as Russia continues to deny suggestions that it was behind the attack.

The report by investigators at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirms "the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury."

It says the chemical was "of high purity," and does not identify its source. The summary does not name Novichok -- the name of the nerve agent previously cited by British Prime Minister Theresa May -- but said the details of the toxin are in the full classified report.

Britain blames Russia for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union. Russia denies any involvement, saying Britain hasn't provided any evidence for its assertion.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quickly commented on the OPCW's report, saying that the results prove Britain's thesis on the matter.

"This is based on testing in four independent, highly reputable laboratories around the world. All returned the same conclusive results," he said. "There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible -- only Russia has the means, motive and record."

The findings come after Yulia Skripal on Wednesday rejected Russian Embassy assistance as she recovers at an undisclosed location. Yulia, 33, was released from the hospital earlier this week, but her father is recovering more slowly.

"I am not yet strong enough to give a full interview to the media, as I one day hope to do," Yulia Skripal said in a statement released by London's Metropolitan Police. "Until that time, I want to stress that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves."

The comment came after Yulia's cousin Viktoria gave a series of interviews about a telephone conversation between the two, leading the British government to claim that Russia was using Viktoria Skripal as a "pawn" in the dispute between the two sides.

Russia's Embassy in London questioned the authenticity of Yulia's statement, saying it was crafted to support Britain's version of events and increases suspicions that she is being held against her will.

British authorities "must urgently provide tangible evidence that Yulia is alright and not deprived of her freedom," the embassy said in a statement.

"The text has been composed in a special way so as to support official statements made by British authorities and at the same time to exclude every possibility of Yulia's contacts with the outer world -- consuls, journalists and even relatives," the embassy said. "The document only strengthens suspicions that we are dealing with a forcible isolation of the Russian citizen."</s>LONDON (AP) — The international chemical weapons watchdog on Thursday confirmed Britain’s finding that a former spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent, as Russia continues to deny suggestions that it was behind the attack.

The report by investigators at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirms “the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury.”

It says the chemical was “of high purity,” and does not identify its source. The summary does not name Novichok — the name of the nerve agent previously cited by British Prime Minister Theresa May — but said the details of the toxin are in the full classified report.

Britain blames Russia for the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union. Russia denies any involvement, saying Britain hasn’t provided any evidence for its assertion.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quickly commented on the OPCW’s report, saying that the results prove Britain’s thesis on the matter.

“This is based on testing in four independent, highly reputable laboratories around the world. All returned the same conclusive results,” he said. “There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible — only Russia has the means, motive and record.”

The findings come after Yulia Skripal on Wednesday rejected Russian Embassy assistance as she recovers at an undisclosed location. Yulia, 33, was released from the hospital earlier this week, but her father is recovering more slowly.

“I am not yet strong enough to give a full interview to the media, as I one day hope to do,” Yulia Skripal said in a statement released by London’s Metropolitan Police. “Until that time, I want to stress that no one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves.”

The comment came after Yulia’s cousin Viktoria gave a series of interviews about a telephone conversation between the two, leading the British government to claim that Russia was using Viktoria Skripal as a “pawn” in the dispute between the two sides.

Russia’s Embassy in London questioned the authenticity of Yulia’s statement, saying it was crafted to support Britain’s version of events and increases suspicions that she is being held against her will.

British authorities “must urgently provide tangible evidence that Yulia is alright and not deprived of her freedom,” the embassy said in a statement.

“The text has been composed in a special way so as to support official statements made by British authorities and at the same time to exclude every possibility of Yulia’s contacts with the outer world — consuls, journalists and even relatives,” the embassy said. “The document only strengthens suspicions that we are dealing with a forcible isolation of the Russian citizen.”</s>Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In the days after the poisoning, specialist officers wore protective suits at the scene in Salisbury

The international chemical weapons watchdog has confirmed the UK's analysis of the type of nerve agent used in the Russian ex-spy poisoning.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons did not name the nerve agent as Novichok, but said it agreed with the UK's findings on its identity.

Russia, which denies it was behind the attack in Salisbury, called the allegations an "anti-Russian campaign".

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "There can be no doubt what was used."

He added: "There remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible - only Russia has the means, motive and record."

But Maria Zakharova, from the Russian Foreign Ministry, said the allegations in relation to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal were a "clear anti-Russian campaign, the like of which we have not seen in the world for a long time in terms of its scale and lack of principles".

She accused the British authorities of ignoring the "norms of international law, the principles and laws of diplomacy, the elementary rules of human ethics".

And she claimed no one except for British authorities had seen the Skripals for more than a month.

She drew comparisons with the case of Alexander Litvinenko, the ex-KGB agent who died in 2006 in London, adding that at least a photograph of Litvinenko had appeared after his poisoning.

A team from the OPCW visited the UK on 19 March, 15 days after the Skripals were found slumped on a park bench in Salisbury and taken to hospital, along with a police officer who was among the first on the scene.

Ms Skripal was discharged from hospital on Monday but the 33-year-old has said her father is "still seriously ill".

Image caption Sergei Skripal remains in hospital but his daughter Yulia has been discharged

The OPCW said it received information about the medical conditions of the Skripals and Det Sgt Nick Bailey, it collected their blood samples, and it gathered samples from the site in Salisbury.

Mr Johnson said the UK had invited the OPCW to test the samples "to ensure strict adherence to international chemical weapons protocols".

UK inspectors from the defence research facility at Porton Down in Wiltshire first identified the nerve agent as belonging to the Novichok group.

What are Novichok agents?

The name Novichok means "newcomer" in Russian, and applies to a group of nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s.

Novichok's existence was revealed by chemist Dr Vil Mirzayanov in the 1990s, via Russian media. He says the nerve agents were designed to escape detection by international inspectors.

Novichok agents are liquids, although others are thought to exist in solid form and could be dispersed as an ultra-fine powder.

Some of the agents are also said to be "binary weapons", meaning the nerve agent is typically stored as two less toxic chemical ingredients that are easier to handle.

When these are mixed, they react to produce the active toxic agent which can cause convulsions, shortness of breath, profuse sweating and nausea.

The OPCW does identify the toxic chemical by its complex formula but only in the classified report that has not been made public.

In its summary, which has been published online, the report notes the toxic chemical was of "high purity".

The BBC's diplomatic correspondent James Landale said: "This is understood to strengthen the argument that this substance came from Russia because it is more likely to have been created by a state actor with the capability to make the nerve agent."

The report does not name the source of the nerve agent, a subject which is beyond the remit of the inspectors.

The UK has called for a UN Security Council meeting on the OPCW report, likely to be held next week.</s>United States Department of Defense(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. and its allies are “still assessing the intelligence” needed to prove the Assad regime conducted a recent alleged chemical attack in Syria, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said Wednesday.

When asked if he had seen enough evidence to blame Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for last weekend’s alleged chemical weapons attack in the city of Douma, Mattis said, “We are still assessing the intelligence, ourselves and our allies. We’re still working on this,” referring to France and the United Kingdom.

Mattis spoke to reporters prior to a meeting at the Pentagon with the Netherlands’ minister of defense.

His comments came hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that Russia should be “ready” because “nice and new and ‘smart'” missiles “will be coming.”

Trump’s tweet seemed to be a response to Russia’s ambassador to Lebanon who told Hezbollah TV this morning that Russia will shoot down U.S. missiles and target launch sites. Russia has previously threatened to shoot down U.S. missiles and aircraft that threaten the lives of Russian personnel in Syria.

When asked if the U.S. military was ready to conduct a counter retaliatory strike if ordered, Mattis said, “We stand ready to provide military options if they are appropriate as the President determines.”

He would not say whether he was concerned about the president telegraphing U.S. military action in Syria.

On Monday, Trump said “major decisions” would be made on Syria in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Options for U.S. retaliation against the Syrian government over the alleged chemical attack run the gamut from light to heavy impact, according to a U.S. official.

Trump has had several phone conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on how the West should act in order to reinforce an international prohibition against chemical warfare.

Macron on Tuesday evening said he wants “a strong and joint response” to the attack, saying that France would decide in the coming days alongside the U.S. and Britain.

There are French aircraft in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, and British aircraft in Cyprus. Both carry Storm Shadow or SCALP cruise missiles.

According to the official, one option being considered by the U.S. military is striking at the Assad regime’s command and control headquarters for the Syrian military. Another option is striking at areas where the Assad regime houses its chemical weapons.

The U.S. could also conduct limited military strikes, such as the Tomahawk missiles launched from a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Mediterranean targeting a Syrian airstrip almost exactly a year ago after an alleged chemical attack on Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib that killed more than 100 people.

These attacks could require routing cruise missiles around several Russian S-400 air defense batteries located inside Syria.

If the administration decides to launch Tomahawk missiles again, there’s only one U.S. Navy ship in the eastern Mediterranean that could do it: the USS Donald Cook.

On Monday, the Navy announced the ship was leaving Larnaca, Cyprus after a port call. A U.S. defense official told ABC News that the Cook’s departure on Monday was previously scheduled and not related to possible military action in Syria.

The Cook is equipped with Aegis, a quick reaction air and ballistic missile defense system.

Heeding the possibility of U.S. military action, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Wednesday that Russia’s Navy will conduct military exercises off the coast of Syria on Wednesday.

It’s believed that any U.S. military response is unlikely to include significant numbers of ground forces. Trump signaled last month that he wanted a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces in Syria, taking observers by surprise.

Meanwhile, leading officials from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have requested access to the site of the alleged chemical weapons attack that took place on a Syrian rebel-held neighborhood on Saturday.

On Monday, the World Health Organization said that, during the shelling of Douma, “an estimated 500 patients presented to health facilities exhibiting signs and symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals.”

“More than 70 people sheltering in basements have reportedly died, with 43 of those deaths related to symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals,” the organization said. “Two health facilities were also reportedly affected by these attacks.”

There have been 10 chemical attacks recorded by activists and doctors in Syria this year, including the alleged incident in Douma, according to the Syrian American Medical Society.</s>The world's chemical arms watchdog on Thursday confirmed Britain's findings on the identity of a nerve agent used against a former Russian spy, which London has said involved the Soviet-made Novichok.

LONDON: The world's chemical arms watchdog on Thursday confirmed Britain's findings on the identity of a nerve agent used against a former Russian spy, which London has said involved the Soviet-made Novichok.

Samples tested by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) "confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical", it said.

The watchdog made no assessment of who was to blame for the March 4 attack, which also affected Sergei Skripal's daughter Yulia and a local policeman.

But British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said: "There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible.

"Only Russia has the means, motive and record."

Moscow strongly denies involvement in the attack, which has sparked an international row resulting in the expulsions of diplomats from all sides.

Experts from the OPCW took samples from the three victims during a visit to Britain last month, which were then tested in international laboratories.

In an executive summary made public at Britain's request, it said "the toxic chemical was of high purity" but did not name it.

That information and details about its structure would be in a classified report shared with OPCW signatories, it said.

Johnson said the chemical "was a military grade nerve agent -- a Novichok", a group of deadly chemical compounds reportedly developed by the Soviet government in the 1970s and 1980s.

"We have called a session of the OPCW Executive Council next Wednesday to discuss next steps. The Kremlin must give answers," he added.

Alastair Hay, Professor of Environmental Toxicology at the University of Leeds, said the findings were a "vindication" of Britain's position.

He added: "The high purity of the substance will strengthen the UK's position that the agent was made by a highly proficient team and in a well refined process."

Prime Minister Theresa May's government has said Russia was known to have used Novichok, and pointed to the country's pattern of "reckless behaviour", including the annexation of Crimea.

Russia insists it has destroyed all of its chemical weapons and has responded angrily to suggests it targeted Skripal, a former intelligence officer who sold secrets to the British.

Skripal moved to Britain in a spy swap in 2010 and settled in Salisbury, and Yulia was visiting from Russia when they were poisoned, likely via contamination from his front door.

Despite initial fears that they would not survive, Yulia Skripal was released from hospital to an undisclosed location on Monday, while her father is said to be improving rapidly.

The Russian embassy in London has requested consular access to the Skripal, and warned that any secret resettlement of the family "will be seen as an abduction or at least as their forced isolation".

In a statement issued through British police on Wednesday, Yulia Skripal said she did not currently want any help from the embassy, adding: "I am safe and feeling better as time goes by."

She said her father "is still seriously ill" and said she herself is "still suffering with the effects of the nerve agent used against us".

She also distanced herself from her cousin Viktoria Skripal, who has spoken to Russian media about the poisoning and has sought to visit Britain, although her visa was rejected.

"I thank my cousin Viktoria for her concern for us, but ask that she does not visit me or try to contact me for the time being," Yulia Skripal said.</s>AMSTERDAM, April 11 (Reuters) - An emergency session of the global chemical weapons watchdog will be convened on Monday to discuss the attack in Syria’s Douma in which dozens of people are believed to have been killed with poison gas.

Members of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons will gather at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on April 16 to discuss “alleged use of chemical weapons” in Syria, a statement said. (Reporting by Anthony Deutsch Editing by Robin Pomeroy)</s>The international chemical weapons watchdog has backed Britain’s findings about the identity of the chemical used in the Salisbury nerve agent attack

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said an analysis of samples taken from former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and a British police officer affected in the incident last month confirmed the assessment of the UK Government.

An executive summary released by the OPCW does not directly name Novichok – the military grade agent developed by Russia which Britain has said was used – or identify the source of the chemical.

The findings were welcomed by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson who said they backed Britain’s assertion that only Russia could have carried out the attack.

“This is based on testing in four independent, highly reputable laboratories around the world. All returned the same conclusive results,” Mr Johnson said in a statement.

“There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible – only Russia has the means, motive and record.

“We invited the OPCW to test these samples to ensure strict adherence to international chemical weapons protocols. We never doubted the analysis of our scientists at Porton Down.”

He said Britain has called a meeting of the OPCW executive council in The Hague for Wednesday to discuss “next steps”, adding; “The Kremlin must give answers.”

In its executive summary, the OPCW said: “The results of the analysis by the OPCW-designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirms the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury and severely injured three people.”

The OPCW said the name and structure of the chemical was included in the full classified report issued to the governments of member states.

It noted that the chemical was of “high purity” with an “almost complete absence” of impurities, seen as backing Britain’s assertion that a state actor was involved.

The head of the GCHQ intelligence agency, former MI5 officer Jeremy Fleming, described Moscow’s actions as “particularly stark and shocking”.

Speaking at a conference in Manchester hosted by the National Cyber Security Centre, he said: “It demonstrates how reckless Russia is prepared to be. How little the Kremlin cares for the international rules-based order. How comfortable they are at putting ordinary lives at risk.”

The UK invited the OPCW to carry out a technical investigation after Moscow strongly challenged its assertion that responsibility for the attack lay with the Kremlin.

The OPCW said it had taken blood samples from the three affected individuals under “full chain of custody” for analysis at its laboratories, as well as checking their identities against official photo ID documents.

It also conducted on-site sampling from “hot spots” of contamination in Salisbury.

Samples taken by the British authorities were supplied to OPCW laboratories in Rijswijk in the Netherlands for comparative analysis to verify the UK’s findings.

The release of the report came as Ms Skripal, 33, revealed she has rejected assistance from the Russian embassy, adding: “I want to stress that no-one speaks for me, or for my father, but ourselves.”

In a statement released through the Metropolitan Police, she said she has found herself in a “totally different life” as she continues to recover from the attack.

The Russian embassy said it doubted the authenticity of the statement and suggested it had been crafted to support Britain’s version of events.</s>THE HAGUE/LONDON (Reuters) - The lethal poison that struck down a former Russian spy and his daughter last month in England was a highly pure type of Novichok nerve agent, the global chemical weapons watchdog concluded on Thursday, backing Britain’s findings.

Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russian military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service, and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench in the English cathedral city of Salisbury on March 4.

Britain blamed Russia for the poisoning and Prime Minister Theresa May said that the Skripals had been attacked with a military-grade nerve agent from the Novichok group of poisons, developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s.

Moscow denied any involvement and suggested Britain had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Russian hysteria, but Britain asked the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to check samples from Salisbury.

Testing by four laboratories affiliated with the global chemical weapons watchdog confirmed Britain’s findings and showed that the toxic chemical was “of high purity.”

The chemical weapons watchdog did not explicitly name Novichok in its published summary, say where the poison may have come from or assign blame for the attack. But it did confirm Britain’s analysis about the substance that had been used.

“The results of analysis by OPCW-designated laboratories of environmental and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical,” the published summary said.

Testing by OPCW laboratories, the details of which were kept confidential, also found the substance used in Salisbury to be of “a high purity”, which supports the British government’s assertion that a state was involved.

The attack prompted the biggest Western expulsion of Russian diplomats since the Cold War as allies in Europe and the United States sided with May’s view that Moscow was either responsible or had lost control of the nerve agent.

Moscow has hit back by expelling Western diplomats, questioning how Britain knows that Russia was responsible and offering its rival interpretations, including that it amounted to a plot by British secret services.

Russia has said it does not have such nerve agents and President Vladimir Putin said it was nonsense to think that Moscow would have poisoned Skripal and his daughter. A British police officer was also taken ill after attending the scene.

“There can be no doubt what was used and there remains no alternative explanation about who was responsible – only Russia has the means, motive and record,” Johnson said.

The poisoning of Skripal, a former double agent who settled in Britain in 2010 after being released by Moscow in a spy swap, shows “how reckless Russia is prepared to be”, the head of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency said on Thursday.

Yulia Skripal, who was released from hospital on Monday, said in a statement she was suffering from the effects of the poisoning, while her father remained seriously ill. She said she was declining an offer of assistance from the Russian Embassy. [L8N1RO6G7]

There are several variants of Novichok, a binary weapon containing two less-toxic chemicals that, when mixed, react to produce a poison several times more lethal than sarin or VX.

Russia’s ambassador to Britain, Alexander Yakovenko, has identified the alleged poison as Novichok A-234, derived from an earlier version known as A-232.

Britain has said the use of such an obscure poison indicates Moscow was either to blame or had lost control over its nerve agents.

“The high purity of the substance will strengthen the UK’s position that the agent was made by a highly proficient team and in a well refined process,” said Alastair Hay, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Toxicology at Britain’s University of Leeds.

The laboratory results, which came in on Wednesday night, were to be circulated to OPCW member states on Thursday. The results will be debated at an emergency OPCW session next Wednesday, to be convened at Britain’s request.

It is unclear how the OPCW will respond. Its executive council has been unable to take decisions due to splits between the Western powers and Russia that have also prevented it from acting in the wake of ongoing use of chemical weapons in Syria.</s>The International Chemical Weapons watchdog says samples of the poison used in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia confirm the use of a highly toxic nerve agent. Despite this, they did not label the chemical 'Novichok' as the British government has done. Novichok is a Soviet-era nerve agent, which the UK says links Russia to the attack.

RUSSIAN intelligence was spying on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia for at least five years before they were poisoned in a nerve agent attack, Britain’s National Security Adviser Mark Sedwill said in a letter to NATO on Friday.

Mr Sedwill also said that Russia has tested means of delivering chemical agents “including by application to door handles”, pointing out that the highest concentration of the chemical found after the attack was on Skripal’s front door handle.

“We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals, dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU cyber specialists,” Mr Sedwill wrote in the letter, referring to Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency.

The Skripals were found slumped on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain has blamed Russia for the attack — a charge that Moscow has strongly denied.

After testing samples from Salisbury, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Thursday confirmed Britain’s findings about the nerve agent used in the attack.

Mr Sedwill’s letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg alleged that Russia had “the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible”.

Mr Sedwill said “credible open-source reporting and intelligence” showed that in the 1980s the Soviet Union developed a family of nerve agents known as Novichoks at a base in the town of Shikhany near Volgograd, which has been closed since 1997, the year that the Chemical Weapons Convention came into effect.

“The codeword for the offensive chemical weapons programme (of which Novichoks were one part) was FOLIANT,” he said.

“It is highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international chemical weapons controls,” he said.

By 1993, when Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, Sedwill said it was “likely” that some Novichoks had passed testing to allow their use by the Russian military.

In the 2000s, Sedwill said Russia had trained military personnel in using these weapons, including on door handles.

“Within the last decade, Russia has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks under the same programme,” he said.</s>Downing Street yesterday took the highly unusual decision to release previously classified information about the Salisbury poisonings in order to debunk Russian propaganda.

Downing Street yesterday took the highly unusual decision to release previously classified information about the Salisbury poisonings in order to debunk Russian propaganda.

The letter from Mark Sedwill set out in clinical terms why Russia had the means, the experience and the motive to carry out the attempted murders of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Scientists at Porton Down defence laboratory identified the nerve agent used in the March 4 attack as belonging to the Novichok family, a finding which was confirmed by Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigators on Thursday.

Mr Sedwill made clear in his letter that "a combination of credible open-source reporting and intelligence shows that in the 1980s the Soviet Union developed a new class of 'fourth generation' nerve agents, known as Novichoks". Russia claimed to have destroyed its chemical weapons stockpiles but the letter says it has "produced and stockpiled" small quantities of Novichok "within the last decade".

It added: "The Russian state has previously produced Novichoks and would still be capable of doing so. "Russia's chemical weapons programme continued after the collapse of the Soviet Union. By 1993, when Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), it is likely that some Novichoks had passed acceptance testing, allowing their use by the Russian military.

"Russia further developed some Novichoks after ratifying the convention. It is highly unlikely that any former Soviet republic (other than Russia) pursued an offensive chemical weapons programme after independence. It is unlikely that Novichoks could be made and deployed by non-state actors (eg a criminal or terrorist group), especially at the level of purity confirmed by OPCW." The origin of the nerve agent has been a source of intense speculation.

It states it is "highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international chemical weapons controls". Russian President Vladimir Putin, who served as a KGB operative between 1975 and 1991, said Moscow "does not possess such agents" and dismissed claims of Russia being behind the attack as "nonsense".

But Mr Sedwill's letter claimed that "in the mid-2000s, President Putin was closely involved in the Russian chemical weapons programme". The Kremlin has also been linked to the deaths of numerous prominent Russian dissidents and Mr Sedwill said "Russia has a proven record of conducting state-sponsored assassination".

Police have said that the highest concentrations of the Novichok nerve agent were found on Mr Skripal's front door, suggesting that was where the nerve agent had been deposited. Mr Sedwill revealed in his letter: "During the 2000s, Russia commenced a programme to test means of delivering chemical warfare agents. This programme subsequently included investigation of ways of delivering nerve agents, including by application to door handles."

Perhaps the most explosive claim in his dossier was that Russian security services had hacked Yulia Skripal's email accounts for at least five years before she and her father were found slumped on a park bench in Salisbury. Mr Sedwill concluded: "We therefore continue to judge that only Russia has the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible. "There is no plausible alternative explanation."
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons states it agrees with UK authorities on their analysis of the identity of the toxic chemical used against the Skripals. The UK identifies the substance as a Novichok nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia.