UK says Russia likely poisoned ex-spy
> May sets deadline for Putin to explain attack
LONDON: President Vladimir Putin faces a midnight deadline to explain to Britain how a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union was used to strike down a former Russian double agent who passed secrets to British intelligence.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, have been in hospital in critical condition since March 4 when they were found unconscious on a bench outside a shopping centre in the city of Salisbury.
Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “highly likely” Moscow was to blame for the attack after British officials identified the chemical as being part of the Novichok group of nerve agents which were developed by the Soviet army in the 1970s.
May gave Putin until midnight (8am today in Malaysia) to explain what happened or face what she said were “much more extensive” measures against the Russian economy.
“It is now clear that Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with a militarygrade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia,” May said.
“Either this was a direct act by the Russian State against our country. Or the Russian government lost control of this potentially catastrophically damaging nerve agent and allowed it to get into the hands of others.”
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson said Washington had “full confidence” in UK’s assessment that Russia is likely responsible.
Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said the use of any nerve agent was horrendous and completely unacceptable.
The European Union also said it would stand by Britain.
Russia, which has denied any role in the attack on Skripal and his daughter, said May’s allegations were a politically motivated circus act.
“It is a circus show in the British parliament,” Russian foreign ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said.
“It’s another political information campaign, based on a provocation.”
May said Russia had shown a pattern of aggression including the annexation of Crimea and the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who died in 2006 after drinking green tea laced with radioactive polonium-210.
Novichok agents are believed to be five to 10 times more lethal than the more commonly known VX and Sarin.
They cause a slowing of the heart and restriction of the airways, leading to death by asphyxiation. – Reuters