Novichok expert’s U-turn on dose used on Skripals

CLAIMS that up to half a cup of liquid nerve agent was used in the attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal were in question last night.

The head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, had said 100g of Novichok was used, indicating it was deliberately applied as a weapon.

But in a later statement, an OPCW spokesman said it was not able to ‘estimate or determine’ the amount of nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack on Skripal and his daughter on March 4.

The spokesman added: ‘The quantity should probably be characterised in milligrams.”

The statement came as Czech president Milos Zeman disclosed that his country had produced small quantities of Novichok. Britain has argued the use of Novichok – which was developed by the former Soviet Union in the 1980s – meant there was no ‘plausible alternative’ explanation other than the Russian state was behind the attack.

Mr Zeman’s comments were seized on by Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said they were a ‘clear illustration of the groundless stance the British authorities have taken’.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a park bench in the Wiltshire city.

The inquiry into the nerve agent attack has involved 250 detectives who have gone through more than 5,000 hours of CCTV and interviewed more than 500 witnesses.