It wasn’t us, Russian envoy tells Novichok poison victim

THE Russian ambassador to the UK has claimed that Novichok used in the Salisbury attack last year could not have come from Russia because it “would have killed everyone”.

Charlie Rowley, whose partner Dawn Sturgess died last year from Novichok poisoning, met Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador, on Friday.

Mr Rowley told the Sunday Mirror: “I went along to ask them, ‘Why did your country kill my girlfriend?’ But I didn’t really get any answers. I just got Russian propaganda.”

The 45-year-old was exposed to the same nerve agent used to attack the former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia last March.

Mr Rowley and Ms Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months later after

‘[He] kept saying [it] wasn’t the Novichok they had made because if it was, it would have killed everyone’

coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the poisonings and then discarded. Ms Sturgess died in hospital last July.

Mr Rowley said the ambassador seemed “genuinely concerned” about his situation, but he still believes Russia carried out the attack.

“The ambassador kept saying the substance definitely wasn’t the Novichok they had made because if it was, it would have killed everyone,” he said.

“I said, ‘Well, my girlfriend did die, it’s only because I washed it off that I’m still here’. He didn’t know what to say to that. He said Russia only has small amounts of Novichok because they use it as an antidote and don’t produce it any more,” he added.

Mr Rowley was left in a coma for 10 days after the attack, suffered strokes, as well as contracting meningitis and he now has a pacemaker.

Mr Yakovenko said he and Mr Rowley were “on the same page” and wanted to see a report into the investigation published. “It is important for Russia, but also for Charlie,” he said.

“I’ve seen a normal person who has really suffered a lot and who has suffered a tragedy in his life. If he asked for it, I would give him support.”