UK says no to a Russian inquiry

RUSSIA called for urgent UN Security Council talks yesterday after it lost its bid at the global chemical weapons watchdog to launch a joint probe with Britain into the spy poisoning scandal.

London has said it is “highly likely” Moscow was behind the March 4 attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.

But the Kremlin has vehemently denied any involvement in the poisoning, which Britain says was carried out with a military nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union.

With relations between Moscow and the West plummeting to new lows and more than 150 diplomats expelled on both sides, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called for “common sense” to prevail.

Moscow convened a meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Wednesday, calling for a joint Russian-British probe to be set up into the attack.

“Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to have two-thirds of the votes in support of that decision.

A qualified majority was needed,” Russian ambassador to OPCW Alexander Shulgin said.

“The proposal was about a double investigation led by Russia and the UK. The general director of the OPCW should be the mediator.”

London said the idea was “perverse”. “We will not agree to Russia’s demand to conduct a joint investigation into the attack in Salisbury because the UK, supported by many other countries, has assessed it is highly likely that the Russian state is responsible for this attack,” British chemical arms expert John Foggo told the OPCW’s governing council.

Moscow called for a UN Security

THE UK … HAS ASSESSED IT IS HIGHLY LIKELY THAT THE RUSSIAN STATE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS ATTACK. ARMS EXPERT JOHN FOGGO

Council meeting yesterday at 1900 GMT in New York.

Its ambassador to the council, Vassily Nebenzia, said the meeting would focus on a letter sent by British Prime Minister Theresa May accusing Moscow of carrying out the attempted assassination.

OPCW experts have already taken on-site samples which are being analysed in The Hague, as well as in four other certified laboratories.

The head of the OPCW, Ahmet Uzumcu, said he expected the results “by early next week”.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Moscow’s main goal was “to obscure the truth and confuse the public”.