Nerve-agent amount grows
About 50 to 100 grams of liquid nerve agent were used in the March 4 attack on the former Russian spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter, Yulia, according to the director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
That quantity — a range from slightly less than a quarter-cup to a half-cup of liquid — is significantly larger than the amount that would be created in a laboratory for research purposes, meaning it was almost certainly created for use as a weapon, the director-general, Ahmet Uzumcu, said. He added that he did not know the precise amount.
He said he had taken steps to add the nerve agent, one of a series of chemicals created under the code name novichok, to the list of chemical weapons monitored by the OPCW, a global body created to oversee the elimination of chemical stockpiles after the end of the Cold War.
Once that is done, countries that are signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention — like Russia, the United States and the United Kingdom — would be required to declare production or stockpiling of novichok beyond the 5 to 10 grams needed for research purposes, or to develop an antidote, he said.
It would be the first chemical added to the list since 1993, when the treaty was signed.
Russia has denied stockpiling the nerve agent, but British officials say they have evidence that it has.
Skirpal, a former Russian Sergei Skripal Yulia Skripal
double agent, and his daughter collapsed on a bench in Salisbury, England, several hours after they were exposed to novichok, a nerve agent that Soviet scientists developed for battlefield use against Western troops.
Investigators have said the substance was applied to the door of Skripal’s home, and that it likely seeped through the two’s skin over the course of several hours, rendering them unconscious.
Russian officials, who deny any involvement in the attack, have suggested that Western laboratories may have synthesized the poison used. Uzumcu said that, if Western laboratories had produced novichok for research purposes, or to develop an antidote, they would have created a smaller quantity than what was used in the attack.
He said OPCW experts had collected samples from the door handle of the Skripal home, the park where the two collapsed and ‘‘a few other places where the Skripals were present.’’
Russian officials previously suggested the nerve agent may have originated in the Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia. Thursday, Czech President Milos Zerman, known for pro-Russia views, said a report by his country’s military spy agency shows that a small amount of the nerve agent was produced, tested and destroyed last year in the Czech Republic.