LONDON (Reuters) - British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson welcomed Russia’s defeat on Wednesday in its attempt to get the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to back a joint investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian double agent in Britain. Moscow convened the session of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague to counter accusations by Britain that it was behind the March 4 poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with a military-grade nerve toxin in the English city of Salisbury. “The international community has yet again seen through these tactics and robustly defeated Russia’s attempts today to derail the proper international process.”

The closed-door OPCW meeting itself triggered sharp verbal exchanges between the Britain and Russia’s representatives. In a tweet, the British delegation called Moscow’s idea for a joint investigation “a diversionary tactic, and yet more disinformation designed to evade the questions the Russians authorities must answer”. The case has plunged East-West relations into their worst crisis since the 1945-90 Cold War, with Britain and its allies expelling around 130 Russian diplomats and Moscow responding with its own expulsions. 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 could not yet determine whether it was made in Russia. 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 at two designated laboratories next week. Russia’s envoy to the OPCW has said that if Moscow is prevented from taking part in the testing of the Salisbury toxin samples, it will reject the outcome of the OPCW research. Russia’s request to open a parallel, joint Russian-British inquiry is seen by Western powers as an attempt to undermine the ongoing investigation by OPCW technical experts. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday he hoped the OPCW meeting would defuse a diplomatic uproar triggered by the poisoning of Skripal, who remains in critical but stable condition, while his daughter has shown signs of improvement.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons rejects a Russian request for a joint investigation.