Spy poisoning: EU demands answers, Putin rejects claims
March 19, 2018
Fresh off an electoral victory, the Russian president has dismissed allegations that Moscow poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal in the UK. The EU has called on Moscow to provide "complete disclosure" of its Novichok program.
"It's complete drivel, rubbish, nonsense that somebody in Russia would allow themselves to do such a thing ahead of elections and the World Cup," Putin said in his first comments since the attack. "It's quite obvious that if it were a military-grade nerve agent, people would have died on the spot."
The Russian president claimed that Moscow "destroyed all our chemical weapons under international oversight unlike some of our partners." Last year, Russia said it destroyed the chemical weapons stockpiles it inherited after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Monday that the UK must provide evidence to back their allegations or apologize "sooner or later."
Britain expels Russian diplomats
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Soviet-designed nerve agent
According to British authorities, former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by a nerve agent from a group of chemical compounds known as Novichok. The nerve agent was developed by the Soviet Union to circumvent the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Up to 22 people were also treated for exposure to the nerve agent, including Nick Bailey, the first officer on the scene. British authorities have called it the first such attack in Europe since World War II.
EU urges 'complete disclosure'
Following an EU foreign ministers meeting, the bloc issued a statement saying it "is shocked at the offensive use of any military-grade nerve agent … for the first time on European soil in over 70 years."
"The Union calls on Russia to address urgently the questions raised by the UK and the international community and to provide immediate, full and complete disclosure of its Novichok program to the OPCW."
After winning a fourth term as president, Vladimir Putin dismissed British claims that Moscow was at the heart of the nerve agent attackImage: Getty Images/AFP/S. Chirikov
'Classic Russian strategy'
Earlier Monday, British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson said Russia's denials were growing "increasingly absurd," with claims appearing to contradict each other.
"What people can see is that this is a classic Russian strategy of trying to conceal the needle of truth in a haystack of lies and obfuscation."
Since the public poisoning in Salisbury, the UK and Russia have witnessed relations deteriorate further, with London expelling 23 diplomats and Moscow responding with similar measures. The UK has signaled it is preparing further measures against Russia, including possibly targeting Russians who "have obtained wealth by corruption."
A history of political poisonings
Poisoning has been used by intelligence agencies for over a century and the latest alleged victim is Putin critic Alexei Navalny. Toxins and even nerve agents, hidden in food or drink, are often the weapons of choice.
Image: Imago Images/Itar-Tass/S. Fadeichev
Alexei Navalny
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was rushed to hospital in Siberia after being taken ill on a flight to Moscow. His aides allege he was poisoned in revenge for his campaigns against corruption. The 44-year-old ex-lawyer apparently only drank black tea before taking off from Omsk airport, which his team think was laced with a toxin that put him in a coma.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/K. Kudrayavtsev
Pyotr Verzilov
In 2018, Russian-Canadian activist Pyotr Verzilov was reported to be in a critical condition after allegedly being poisoned in Moscow. It happened shortly after he gave a TV interview criticizing Russia's legal system. Verzilov, the unofficial spokesman for the rock group Pussy Riot, was transferred to a hospital in Berlin where doctors said it was "highly probable" that he had been poisoned.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass/A. Novoderezhkin
Sergei Skripal
Sergei Skripal, a 66-year-old former Russian spy, was found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping center in the British city of Salisbury after he was exposed to what was later revealed to be the nerve agent Novichok. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the situation "tragic" but said, "We don't have information about what could be the cause" of the incident.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tass
Kim Jong Nam
The estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un was killed on February 13, 2018 at Kuala Lumpur airport after two women allegedly smeared the chemical nerve agent VX on his face. In February, a Malaysian court heard that Kim Jong Nam had been carrying a dozen vials of antidote for the deadly nerve agent VX in his backpack at the time of the poisoning.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Kambayashi
Alexander Litvinenko
Former Russian spy Litvinenko had worked for the Federal Security Service (FSB) before he defected to Britain, where he became a journalist and wrote two books of accusations against the FSB and Putin. He became ill after meeting with two former KGB officers and died on November 23, 2006. A government inquiry found he was killed by radioactive polonium-210 which it alleged the men put in his tea.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Kaptilkin
Viktor Kalashnikov
In November 2010, doctors at Berlin's Charité hospital discovered high levels of mercury had been found in a Russian dissident couple working in Berlin. Kalashnikov, a freelance journalist and former KGB colonel, had 3.7 micrograms of mercury per litre of blood, while his wife had 56 micrograms. A safe level is 1-3 micrograms. Viktor reportedly told German magazine Focus that "Moscow poisoned us."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/RIA Novosti
Viktor Yushchenko
Ukrainian opposition leader Yushchenko became sick in September 2004 and was diagnosed with acute pancreatis caused by a viral infection and chemical substances. The illness resulted in facial disfigurement, with pockmarks, bloating and jaundice. Doctors said the changes to his face were from chloracne, which is a result of dioxin poisoning. Yushchenko claimed government agents poisoned him.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/M. Leodolter
Khaled Meshaal
On September 25, 1997, Israel's intelligence agency attempted to assassinate Hamas leader Meshaal, under orders from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Two agents sprayed a poisonous substance into Meshaal's ear as he walked into the Hamas offices in Amman, Jordan. The assassination attempt was unsuccessful and not long afterward the two Israeli agents were captured.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Sazonov
Georgi Markov
In 1978, Bulgarian dissident Markov was waiting at a bus stop after a shift at the BBC when he felt a sharp jab in his thigh. He turned to see a man picking up an umbrella. A small bump appeared where he felt the jab and four days later he died. An autopsy found he'd been killed by a small pellet containing a 0.2-milligram dose of ricin. Many believe the poisoned dart was fired from the umbrella.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/epa/Stringer
Grigori Rasputin
On December 30, 1916, mystic and spiritual healer Rasputin arrived at Yusupov Palace in St Petersburg at the invitation Prince Felix Yusupov. There, Prince Yusupov offered Rasputin cakes laced with potassium cyanide but he just kept eating them. Yusupov then gave him wine in a cyanide-laced wine glasses, but still Rasputin continued to drink. With the poison failing, Rasputin was shot and killed.
