Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday claimed he had evidence from a Swiss lab that ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a Western-developed chemical agent.
His unsupported claims call into question the conclusions of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which found a Soviet-developed nerve agent was responsible for the attack in Salisbury, England, on March 4.
Read more: Chemical weapons watchdog confirms UK findings on nerve agent
What Lavrov claimed
Lavrov said he received confidential results from Switzerland's government-run Spiez Laboratory, which showed:
- Samples from Salisbury contained BZ nerve agent and its precursor.
- The sample also contained nerve agent A234 (a Novichok agent), but that its presence was strange, given the substance's high volatility and the relatively long period between the poisoning and the sample-taking.
Read more: Sergei Skripal: The former spy poisoned with a nerve agent
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Ex-Russian spy poisoned
On March 4, former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter were found slumped on a bench outside a shopping center in the British town of Salisbury. Authorities said both were in a critical condition after being exposed to an "unknown substance." Skripal was a former general of Russian military intelligence who had been convicted in Russia for spying for the UK.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Russia denies involvement
Russia denied any knowledge of the poisoning, which echoed the murder of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006. Litvinenko was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210. "We see that such a tragic situation happened," Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on March 6. "But we don't have information about what could be the cause, what this person did."
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Nerve agent suspected
On March 7, British police said they suspected a very rare nerve agent was behind the poisoning of Skripal. "This is being treated as a major incident involving attempted murder by administration of a nerve agent," Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said in a statement. "I can also confirm that we believe the two people originally who became unwell were targeted specifically."
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
UK promises retaliation
British police said more than 21 people had sought medical treatment as a result of the nerve agent attack. On March 8, UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the House of Commons that enormous resources were being used to determine who was behind the attack. Rudd called the use of a chemical nerve agent on British soil a "brazen and reckless" act that would be answered with all possible force.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
May gives Russia a deadline
On March 12, British Prime Minister Theresa May told lawmakers it was "highly likely" Russia was behind the poisoning. May said the Russian government had either ordered the attack or lost control of the Russian-produced chemical nerve agent Novichok. She gave Moscow until midnight on Tuesday to explain its Novichok program to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
EU supports UK
On March 13, vice president of the European Commission European Union, Valdis Dombrovskis, said the EU would stand in solidarity with Britain after London accused Russia of being behind the nerve agent attack. When asked if the EU might impose sanctions of Russia if it was agreed Moscow was responsible for the attack, Dombrovskis said: "Of course, the UK can count on EU solidarity in this regard."
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Russia calls UK bluff
Russia failed to respond to May’s midnight deadline for an explanation of its suspected involvement in the poisoning. On March 14, a spokesperson for the Russian Embassy in London said Moscow would not respond "until it receives samples of the chemical substance." May had said a "full range" of retaliatory measures would be considered if Moscow did not give a "credible response" by the deadline.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
UK announces expulsions of diplomats
After Russia failed to give an explanation, May announced on March 14 that the UK would expel 23 Russian diplomats identified as "undeclared intelligence officers." May also said the UK would suspend all high-level bilateral contact with Russia. The biggest expulsions from London in 30 years would "fundamentally degrade Russian intelligence capability for years to come," May said.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
France, Germany, UK, US blame Russia
On March 15, the leaders of France, Germany, the UK and US released a joint statement that demanded "complete disclosure" from Russia saying there is "no plausible alternative" to Moscow's involvement. The statement said the attack using "a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia" constituted "an assault on UK sovereignty" that threatened "the security of us all."
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Russia expels British diplomats
In retaliation to the UK, Russia said it would also expel 23 British diplomats, giving them the same one-week deadline. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it would also close the British Council in Russia, and might take further measures against Britain in the event of more "hostile steps" from London. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, had said Moscow would "of course" respond with expulsions.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Putin dismisses claims as 'nonsense'
"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 on March 19. "It's quite obvious that if it were a military-grade nerve agent, people would have died on the spot." Putin said Moscow "destroyed all our chemical weapons under international oversight unlike some of our partners."
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
UK says Novichok was used
On March 20, UK scientists determined Skripal was poisoned using a little-known nerve agent from a group of chemical compounds known as Novichok. The family of compounds, which were developed in the 1970s and 80s, comprise numerous nerve agents. The Soviets once developed these weapons to circumvent the Chemical Weapons Convention. Novichok-5 and Novichok-7 are supposed to be the most dangerous.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Mass Russian diplomat expulsions
A number of EU countries teamed together on March 26 and simultaneously announced they would be expelling Russian diplomats. Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Latvia and Ukraine all announced they would be expelling Russian envoys. The US followed suit with the expulsion of 60 Russian diplomats and announced the closure of Moscow's consulate in Seattle.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
Poison on front door
UK police found the highest concentration of the nerve agent on the front door of the Skripal's family home in Salisbury. They believe that is where Skripal and his daughter must have first come into contact with the poison. It was likely mixed in with a "gloopy substance" smeared on the door handle.
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Russian spy poisoning: How it unfolded
New Novichok victims
In early July, weeks after both Skripals were discharged from the Salisbury hospital, another two people were apparently poisoned with the same substance in the nearby town of Amesbury. A 45-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman were found unconscious and were transported to the same hospital in critical condition.
Author: Louisa Wright
Claims of interference
Lavrov said neither Russia nor the USSR developed BZ. "In this regard we are asking the OPCW why the information which reflected the conclusions of specialists from the Spiez Laboratory was completely omitted from the final document."
The laboratory did not immediately respond to the claims, which came late Saturday afternoon.
Read more: Boris Johnson accused of making misleading Russia Novichok claim in DW interview
Repeated accusations: Russia has repeatedly thrown out accusations of conspiracy in the poisoning of the Skripals. However, Lavrov's criticism of the results of the OPCW investigation represents a new angle of attack.
Poisoning of the Skripals: Ex-double-agent Skripal and his daughter were found slumped over in public in Salisbury after apparently being poisoned. The incident has exacerbated a major rift between Russia and the west.
Russia blamed: The OPCW and Britain's Porton Down military research facility both said the Skripals were poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent, but neither could identify where it was manufactured. Britain claimed it had evidence Russia was almost certainly behind the attack, and was backed on these claims up by its allies.
What is BZ? BZ is a military-grade incapacitating agent developed by the US Army in the 1950s and 1960s.
Increasing scrutiny: The Skripal case, as well as the recent alleged use of chemical weapons by Russian ally Syria, has placed world focus on the use of chemical weapons, culminating in a Western missile strike on a series of targets in Syria.
Read more: What does the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW do?
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aw/tj (AP, AFP)
