Alarm in Britain over new nerve agent poisoning

Second Novichok case ‘a continuation of anti-Russia PR hysteria’

British investigators were urgently trying to establish yesterday how a couple came into contact with the same type of Soviet-era chemical weapon used in an attack against a former Russian spy and his daughter.

Authorities said the latest two victims — identified by friends as British nationals Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44 — were poisoned by the nerve agent known as Novichok. They were found unconscious on Saturday at a residential property in Amesbury just a few miles from where a nerve agent was used in March to poison the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter, Yulia. The couple are now in a coma at Salisbury district hospital, the same hospital where the Skripals were treated.

Britain will consider what further action it should take against Russia if it is proven that the Kremlin was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of the two Britons, interior minister Sajid Javid said yesterday. We don’t want to jump to conclusions but if it is established that the Russian state is entirely responsible for this as well, then of course we will be considering what further action we can take,” Javid told parliament.

A Russian lawmaker has described the second case of Novichok poisoning as part of British efforts to tarnish the Russia-hosted World Cup and fuel tensions ahead of a planned US-Russian summit.

Sergei Zheleznyak, a member of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the poisoning case is “a continuation of an anti-Russian PR hysteria that British authorities are trying to create.”

Britain’s counter-terrorism chief said on Wednesday that two people who are critically ill in hospital in Wiltshire were exposed to the Novichok nerve agent, the same toxin that was used in an attack on ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

The man and woman, both British, were found unwell at a house in Amesbury on Saturday, close to Salisbury where Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with the nerve agent in March

Counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the incident after tests at the Porton Down defence laboratory confirmed the nature of the substance, which Britain says is a Soviet-made military grade nerve agent.

“It’s the same nerve agent. Whether we can ever tell if it’s the same batch will be up to scientists to determine,” Neil Basu, head of counter-terrorism police, told reporters.

“The priority for the investigation team now, is to establish how these two people have come into contact with this nerve agent,” he said.

‘Not targeted’

Basu said there was no evidence to suggest that the man and the woman, named Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, “were targeted in any way”.

The two fell ill on Saturday in Amesbury, close to where former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed on a bench on March 4 in an incident that sparked a bitter diplomatic crisis with Russia.

“The possibility that these two investigations might be linked is clearly a line of inquiry for us,” Basu said.

But Basu said there was no evidence the man and the woman had “recently visited any of the sites that were decontaminated” after the poisoning of the Skripals.

“This remains a low risk to the general public,” he said.

“We’re satisfied that if anyone was exposed to that level of nerve agent by now they would be showing symptoms.”

The 44-year-old woman collapsed first and an ambulance was called at around 0915 GMT, while the 45-year-old man fell ill later and an ambulance was called at 1430 GMT.

Police had initially assumed that the two had consumed a contaminated batch of drugs.

But samples from both patients were sent to Porton Down on Monday “due to concern over the symptoms the man and woman were displaying,” Basu said.

Both are still in a critical condition and are at Salisbury District Hospital — the same facility where the Skripals were treated.