UK: Moscow long spied on Skripals

Lavrov says poison apparently used in attack never in Russian arsenal

LONDON/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s intelligence agencies spied on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, for at least five years before the two were attacked with a nerve agent in March, the national security adviser to Britain’s prime minister said.

Mark Sedwill said in a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday that email accounts of Yulia had been targeted in 2013 by cyber specialists from Russia’s GRU military intelligence service.

Sedwill also said in the letter, which was published by the government, that it was “highly likely that the Russian intelligence services view at least some of its defectors as legitimate targets for assassination.”

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the nerve agent used could have been BZ – a substance which Moscow claims was never produced in the Soviet Union or Russia.

Lavrov said experts from a laboratory based in the Swiss town of Spiez had analyzed a sample of the substance used in the poisoning.

Citing a report from the lab dated March 27, Lavrov said the evidence suggested the nerve agent used could be in the arsenal of the United States and Britain.

Lavrov read out parts of the report that he said showed the substance had traces of the BZ agent.

“This formulation was in the inventory of the United States, Britain and other NATO states,” Lavrov said, at an assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

The global chemical weapons watchdog concluded on Thursday that the poison that struck down the former Russian spy and his daughter, Yulia, last month was a highly pure type of Novichok nerve agent, backing Britain’s own findings.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the poisoning.

Lavrov said the report from the Swiss lab mentioned no nerve agents by name, such as Novichok, but instead gave a long chemical formula that points to a substance that has been developed by many countries.

“We, as you understand, have abilities to receive confidential information. And as this information concerns questions of life and death, we won’t keep this information secret,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov said the Swiss laboratory also identified a high concentration of A-234 agent, known as Novichok. Such a concentration would have quickly resulted in Skripal’s death, Lavrov said.

“Taking into account its [A-234] high volatility, the issue of identification of this poisoning substance in its initial state and in high concentration by specialists at the Spiez [research] center seems to be very suspicious,” Lavrov said.

The Skripals were targeted by what London says was a nerve agent attack that left both of them critically ill for weeks. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said it is highly likely that Moscow was behind the attack.

Separately on Friday, Russia’s ambassador to Britain said he was concerned the British government was trying to get rid of evidence related to the case.

“We get the impression that the British government is deliberately pursuing the policy of destroying all possible evidence, classifying all remaining materials and making an independent and transparent investigation impossible,” Alexander Yakovenko told reporters.

He also said Russia could not be sure about the authenticity of a statement issued by Yulia Skripal on Wednesday in which she declined the offer of help from the Russian embassy.