Hunt admits response to Litvinenko was ‘flawed’

The long-term response to the Salisbury Novichok poisonings must be different to that of the Litvinenko case, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said.

Mr Hunt said the UK response to the death of Alexander Litvinenko, who is believed to have died after being targeted by Russian security services with radioactive polonium-210 in 2006, was “flawed”.

He said: “Arguably the way that we responded to the Litvinenko tragedy was flawed because what happened was there was a period of strong words and strong action and then a few years later it was back to business as normal. We have to make it clear to countries that are considering using nerve agents, chemical weapons that the price for using them will be too high and we can only do that if we stand together.”