UK says ex- spy pets were found dead

London, April 6: The UK confirmed that two guinea pigs were found dead at the home of the former Russian double agent who was found poisoned along with his daughter here in March.

The UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs ( DEFRA) also said that a cat found in a distressed state at the house in Salisbury was put down by a vet.

The confirmation came on Thursday amid concerns raised by Russia over the welfare of Sergei Skripal’s pets. The information was followed by a attack by Russia on the UK inventing a “fake story” and “playing with fire” over the row. Moscow, April 6: Moscow on Friday rejected a British news report that the nerve agent used in the poisoning of a former double agent originated from a town on Russia’s Volga river.

On Thursday, The Times cited British security sources saying they believed the Novichok chemical was manufactured at Shikhany in central Russia’s Saratov region.

“This lab was never part of the scope of our work,” Mikhail Babich, Kremlin’s envoy in the Volga District, told a news agency.