‘Extremely worrying,’ says chemical arms watchdog

THE HAGUE: The nerve agent poisoning of Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain was "extremely worrying", a global chemical weapons watchdog said on Tuesday.

"The recent report that two people became seriously ill in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result of exposure to a nerve agent is of serious concern," Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said in a statement. "It is extremely worrying that chemical agents are still being used to harm people. Those found responsible for this use must be held accountable for their actions."

Uzumcu said British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had called him on Monday evening to discuss the ongoing investigation into the attempted murder of Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has alleged it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the attack.

Moscow faces a midnight Tuesday deadline to tell London how a Russian-made nerve agent came to be used in the brazen poisoning, with May threatening "a full range of measures" in retaliation.

Russia has denied the accusations, as the US, NATO and the European Union all backed Britain in the deepening diplomatic row.