May: Russia 'highly likely' behind agent poisoning
Alexander Pearson with Reuters and AFP
March 12, 2018
British PM Theresa May told Parliament that a Russian-produced nerve agent had been used to poison Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. The US has said those responsible should face "serious consequences."
If evidence eventually proves Moscow directly ordered the poisoning, May said the government would consider the attack an "unlawful use of force" on British territory.
The Russian government either ordered the attack, or it had lost control of the military-grade, Russian-produced chemical nerve agent Novichok that was used in the attack.
May said Moscow had until Tuesday evening to explain its Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The government has summoned the Russian ambassador in London to explain whether Moscow was directly responsible for the attack.
If there is "no credible response" by the end of Tuesday, the government would discuss retaliatory measures with the British Parliament.
Britain cannot have a normal relationship with Russia. "We will not tolerate such a brazen attempt to murder innocent civilians on our soil," May said, adding: "There can be no question of business as usual with Russia."
"We have full confidence in the UK's investigation and its assessment that Russia was likely responsible for the nerve agent attack that took place in Salisbury last week," said US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "We agree that those responsible — both those who committed the crime and those who ordered it — must face appropriately serious consequences.
"It appears that it clearly came from Russia. Whether it came from Russia with the Russian government's knowledge is not known to me at this point," Tillerson added.
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia's Foreign Ministry, dismissed May's speech as a "provocation," according to Russian news agencies. She added: "It is a circus show in the British parliament."
The Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that British media and politicians were using the poison attack to discredit Moscow ahead of the 2018 soccer world cup in Russia. The British, it said, "cannot forgive Russia for obtaining the right to host the 2018 World Cup in an honest competition."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the use of military-grade nerve agent was "horrendous and completely unacceptable." He added: "This incident is of great concern to NATO."
The attack: Sixty-six year old Sergei Skripal was found with his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia, slumped on a bench in the southern English town of Salisbury on March 4. The unconscious pair was rushed to hospital where they remain in critical but stable condition. The nerve agent used to poison the pair also affected a policeman who found them. The officer is conscious but also remains in critical condition.
Who is Sergei Skripal? Skripal was a colonel in Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU, before he was found guilty of betraying Russian agents to MI6, Britain's foreign intelligence service. In 2010, he arrived in Britain as part of a spy swap deal between London and Moscow.
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.
