UK: Russia behind attempt to murder ex-spy

LONDON (AP) — The use of Russian-developed nerve agent Novichok to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter makes it “highly likely” that Russia was involved, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Monday.

Novichok refers to a class of nerve agents developed in the Soviet Union near the end of the Cold War. The agents were ostensibly created in an attempt to avoid the international chemical weapons treaty that had just been signed; any new substances wouldn’t be subject to past treaties.

Novichok behaves slightly differently than other nerve agents, with some reports that the class of substances is deadlier than similar chemicals like sarin or VX and harder to identify.

“Novichok agents significantly extend the range of possibility for nerve agents,” said Andrea Sella, a profes- sor of inorganic chemistry at University College London. There are five known nerve agents, which are mostly colorless liquids that can kill within minutes, if ingested.

“With Novichok, you have the potential for a slowerrelease agent, which gives you much more control,” Sella said. “Using Novichok makes it pretty clear that it was likely Russia that was behind this.”

Gary Stephens, a pharmacology expert at the University of Reading, noted that the component ingredients of Novichok nerve agents aren’t on the banned list.

“It means the chemicals that are mixed to create it are much easier to deliver with no risk to the health of the courier,” he said.

Nerve agents are typically inhaled or absorbed through the skin. They work by blocking a key enzyme that controls communication between nerve cells and muscles — inhibiting the enzyme causes muscles and glands to be overstimulated. That results in symptoms including contracted pupils, vomiting, breathing difficulties and convulsing muscles.

While the raw materials needed to make a nerve agent are cheap and relatively accessible, transforming them into a deadly weapon requires specialized expertise and the kind of safety precautions normally only found in government laboratories.

But trained chemists with access to secure facilities would theoretically be able to produce nerve agents, which have been described by some scientists as the most deadly invention humans have ever made, after the atom bomb.

“With these kinds of substances, they are just so dangerous that no fly-by-night terrorist group is going to cook this up,” Sella said. “It really smells like a government outfit,” he said, adding that nations other than Russia would also be capable of producing Novichok.

Alastair Hay, a professor emeritus of environmental toxicology at the University of Leeds, said it was possible the Skripals’ food was contaminated or the nerve agent was absorbed through the skin, which could take an hour or longer if the substance was administered using something similar to a nicotine patch.