Salisbury nerve agent hotspots sealed off but city remains safe

OFFICIALS HAVE stressed that Salisbury is safe as the decontamination gets under way of nine hotspots left with traces of the nerve agent used to poison a Russian ex-spy and his daughter.

A small amount of the novichok substance is thought to have been used in liquid form to target Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33.

Police cordons have been erected around five of the areas where experts think traces could still linger – at The Maltings shopping centre, The Mill pub, Riverside House and Zizzi restaurant, Wiltshire Council said.

And Government officials have sought to ease concerns by saying the city is still safe for residents and visitors, and there was no additional risk to the public.

Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), joined local council, police and health representatives to update residents on the clean-up process at a public meeting.

Asked whether the chemical remains at the same “lethal” level as the day it was put on Mr Skripal’s door, Defra’s chief scientific adviser Ian Boyd said: “We have to make an assumption that in certain circumstances there will be relatively high concentrations, probably in very, very specific locations, which could be at levels that could be toxic to individuals.

“That’s an assumption, it’s also one we’ve tested in some circumstances and we do know that there are hotspots like that around, so we have to make those assumptions that some of the hotspots we’ve still got to find.

“But those hotspots will still be in the locations we are talking about.

“In these locations, there may well be higher concentrations that we still have to find, but we already know there are some high concentrations within those locations.”

A spokeswoman for Defra sought to allay fears about the hotspots.

She said: “As Public Health England have stated, Salisbury is safe for residents and visitors.

“All work undertaken on each site will take appropriate measures to ensure that there is no additional risk to the public.

“There is no need to take any additional precautions. Cordons are in place to protect the public from any potential risk.”

The multi-million-pound decontamination operation is expected to begin next week and will likely prioritise a police station, two ambulance stations and the council building which were affected, it is understood, and could take months to complete.

Meanwhile, the British ambassador to the United Nations said there is a “possibility” that Russia has tampered with evidence of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma which triggered retaliatory strikes from the UK, United States and France.

Karen Pierce said all the facts had not yet been established after the April 7 attack and said Russia and Syria should allow inspectors to visit the site.

The visit to the area by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has been put on hold after a team came under small arms fire and returned to Damascus earlier this week.

Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat said Britain could be doing “a lot more” to pressurise Vladimir Putin’s “gangster” regime to combat overt and covert Russian activities in the West.

The Tory MP said the UK should follow the US lead in bringing harsh sanctions against the “oligarchs” and “princes” around the Russian president.