SPY POISONING: ‘WE CAN’T PROVE IT WAS RUSSIA’
Propaganda blow for PM after she rallies allies to Britain’s side over spy’s novichok poisoning
SCIENTISTS at the UK’s chemical warfare laboratory have not been able to establish “the precise source” of the nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack.
In a major propaganda blow for Theresa May, the chief executive of Porton Down admitted they had not been able to prove the novichok used to poison former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was made in Russia.
Gary Aitkenhead, the head of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, said: “We were able to identify it as novichok, to identify that it was military-grade nerve agent.
“We have not identified the precise source but we have provided the scientific info to the Government, who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions.”
He said establishing the nerve agent’s origin required “other inputs”, some of them intelligence-based, which the Government have access to.
Aitkenhead added: “It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is.
“We identified that it is from this particular family and that it is a military grade but it is not our job to say where it was manufactured.”
But he added that the substance required “extremely sophisticated methods to create – something only in the capabilities of a state actor”.
The Porton Down boss also revealed there is no known antidote to novichok, so none was administered to either of the Skripals.
Last night, the Foreign Office insisted that other evidence led them to conclude that Russia was responsible for the attack.
A spokesman said: “It is our assessment that Russia was responsible for this brazen and reckless act and, as the international community agrees, there is no other plausible explanation.
“We have been clear from the very beginning that our worldleading experts at Porton Down identified the substance used in Salisbury as a novichok, a military-grade nerve agent.
“This is only one part of the intelligence picture.
“As the Prime Minister has set out in a number of statements to the Commons since March 12, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents, probably for assassination – and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of novichoks.”
Meanwhile, the international chemical weapons watchdog said they would hold a special meeting today to discuss the UK Government’s claim that Russia was behind the attack.
Alexander Shulgin, Russia’s ambassador to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, asked for the executive council meeting to discuss Britain’s allegations “in a confidential sitting”.