LONDON (NYTIMES) - Russian television broadcast a telephone recording on Thursday (April 5) said to be of Ms Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent a month ago and is at the centre of an escalating confrontation between Russia and Britain.

In the recording, which the Rossiya 24 news announcer emphasised could not be verified, Ms Skripal tells her cousin Viktoria that both she and her father, Mr Sergei V. Skripal, are healthy, and that neither of them has suffered long-term health damage from the poisoning.

The recording contradicted public statements by British authorities, who have described Mr Sergei Skripal's condition as "critical but stable", and said that only Ms Yulia Skripal was conscious.

Within hours of the programme's broadcast, British police released a statement on Ms Yulia Skripal's behalf, in which she said she "woke up over a week ago now" and that her "strength is growing daily".

The two accounts underline a challenge Britain is facing as it endeavours to build and maintain an international coalition around the poisoning while keeping much of its evidence secret.

Authorities have released little information about the attack on Mr Sergei Skripal and his daughter, but they have expressed certainty that it was carried out on behalf of the Russian government.

Officials have said Mr Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy turned double agent who was living peacefully in southwestern England, was very likely targeted as an example to future defectors.

Moscow has denied the accusations and has seized on the ambiguities surrounding the investigation in an aggressive campaign to discredit British authorities.

At the United Nations on Thursday, the Russian ambassador, Mr Vasily Nebenzya, called an emergency session of the Security Council where he accused British authorities of everything from planting false stories in the media to neglecting Mr Sergei Skripal's pet cats and guinea pigs.

He gave an impromptu lecture about Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and quoted at length from "Alice in Wonderland".

"This is some kind of theatre of the absurd," he said. "What, you were unable to find a more believable fake?"

Britain's public case against Russia has so far rested largely on the nerve agent, an unusual chemical weapon developed in the last years of the Soviet Union.

But this week, the chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down, Britain's premier chemical weapons laboratory, said its scientists could not identify "the precise source" of the chemical, though it was almost certainly created by a "state actor".

That conclusion undercut statements by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that Porton Down scientists had "categorically" traced the agent to Russia.

Mr Johnson swiftly came under criticism from Mr Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, who said the Foreign Secretary had "exceeded the information he had been given" and had "egg on his face".

Ms Diane Abbott, another Labour leader, took aim at Mr Johnson in an interview with the BBC, saying, "so many people were willing to rush to the media and say it was unequivocally Putin."

"We will, I hope, get some credit for taking a more thoughtful approach and asking the right questions," she said.

At the Security Council, Britain's closest allies reiterated their support for the conclusion that Russia was behind the poisoning.

"We share the UK's assessment, namely that there is no other plausible explanation other than Russia's responsibility," said France's ambassador, Mr François Delattre.

His sentiments were echoed by the representatives from the United States, Sweden, the Netherlands and others.

In her remarks to the Security Council, Britain's ambassador, Ms Karen Pierce, responded calmly to the barrage of Russian accusations, providing what she described as "intellectual clarity".

About 250 police detectives are involved in the investigation, she said. They are reviewing 5,000 hours of surveillance video, examining 1,300 exhibits and interviewing 500 witnesses.

"The UK has launched one of the most comprehensive and complex investigations into the use of a chemical weapon ever," Ms Pierce said.

She also brought some of her own literary references. Responding to Mr Nebenzya, who a few weeks ago compared British investigators on the case to the hapless Inspector Lestrade from the Sherlock Holmes stories, Ms Pierce compared Russia to Holmes' nemesis, Professor Moriarty.

A new challenge could come within a few days if Ms Viktoria Skripal, Mr Sergei Skripal's niece, follows through on plans to travel to Britain.

Mr Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador in London, said at a news conference on Thursday that he had offered Ms Viktoria Skripal assistance with transport, accommodation and Russian-English translation during her visit.

Ms Viktoria Skripal has repeatedly expressed doubts about the British accusations, suggesting that her relatives could have been sickened by bad fish or attacked by the mother of Ms Yulia Skripal's boyfriend.

She has made several appearances on Russia's state-controlled television in recent days, in one case appearing alongside the two men accused of having poisoned Mr Alexander Litvinenko, another former Russian spy, in London in 2006.

In the conversation broadcast on Thursday on Russian television, Ms Yulia Skripal tells her cousin that she will probably not get a British visa and that they probably would be unable to see each other. </s> In a letter to Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Sir Mark also said that in the 2000s the Russians had begun a programme to train personnel from “special units” in the use of chemical warfare agents.

National Security Adviser Sir Mark Sedwill said cyber specialists from the GRU – Russian military intelligence – targeted Yulia Skripal’s email accounts as far back as 2013.

Russian intelligence agencies have been spying on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter for at least five years, Britain has said in the latest twist in the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

In his letter, Sir Mark set out why the Government believes that only Russia has the “technical means, operational experience and the motive” to carry out such an attack – including some declassified intelligence material.

The claims come after the international Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons backed Britain’s assertion the Skripals were poisoned by Novichok – a military grade nerve agent developed by the Russians in the 1980s.

He said that it included investigating ways of delivering nerve agents by applying them to door handles. The strongest concentration of the Novichok nerve agent found in the Salisbury incident was on the front door of Skripal’s home.

“The code word used for the offensive chemical weapons programme (of which the Novichoks were one part) was FOLIANT,” he said.

Sir Mark also identified the key institute for developing Novichok in the former Soviet Union as a branch of the State Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology at Shikany near Volgograd.

“We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU cyber specialists,” he said.

He said Russia had a “proven record of conducting state-sponsored assassination” and that it was “highly likely” some defectors – like Skripal, a former GRU officer who was exchanged in a spy swap in 2010 – may be regarded as “legitimate targets for assassination”.

“It is highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international weapons controls.”

He said that Russia had continued to produce and stockpile small quantities of Novichoks within the last decade.

“We therefore continue to judge that only Russian has the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible,” he said.

Yulia, 33, who was found critically ill alongside her 66-year-old father on a bench in Salisbury in March, was discharged from hospital in Wiltshire this week.

Sergei is recovering more slowly than his daughter but will be able to leave Salisbury District Hospital in due course, said medical director Dr Christine Blanchard, earlier this week.

The Russian Embassy is publishing its own report on the Salisbury nerve gas attack, London ambassador Alexander Yakovenko has announced, adding that the UK has still not produced any evidence to support its claims about the incident.

Yakovenko has accused the British authorities of destroying evidence in the Salisbury nerve agent attack and he said the UK had yet to produce the proof to back its claims that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals.

“The British Government still hasn’t produced any evidence in support of its position that would confirm their official version,” he told a news conference at the Russian embassy in London.

“We get the impression the British Government is deliberately pursuing the policy of destroying all possible evidence.”

Yulia has refused assistance from Russia since leaving hospital, after her home country claimed Britain had “abducted” her.

Yakovenko questioned the authenticity of her refusal, again complaining: “We cannot be sure that Yulia’s refusal to see us is genuine. We have every reason to see such actions as the abduction of two Russian nationals.”

He also said he had not received the allegations in Sir Mark’s letter from the authorities and said the claim that Russian intelligence had been interested in the Skripals since at least 2013 came as a “big surprise”.

“If somebody was spying why were the British services not complaining about that because they always complain if something goes wrong in their country or somewhere else,” he said.

The ambassador also denied that Russia had ever produced or stockpiled Novichok nerve agents.

“Russia stopped any chemical programmes in 1992. In 2017 we eliminated all the chemical weapons,” he said.

“We didn’t produce Novichok, we didn’t store this Novichok, so-called under the Western classification, was never in our military forces. This is the fact of life.”

Yakovenko said Russia was sending an official request to the UK on Friday under article nine of the Chemical Weapons Convention seeking “clarification and information” regarding questions and concerns Moscow has.

When asked if he thought there was any connection between events in Syria and in Salisbury, he replied: “We can see some logic there, because one way or another, the whole affair, the real serious affair in Salisbury was a huge provocation against my country.

“I see the philosophical link between everything what happened here and in Syria. But, of course, we’re dealing with every single case on a case-by-case basis.”

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, speaking at a briefing at New Scotland Yard, said around 250 detectives were working on the Salisbury investigation.

Asked if the probe was getting closer to identifying a suspect, she said: “All I can say is we are putting huge effort in, we will continue to do that.

“We will do everything we can to establish the facts, to identify who was responsible and if at all possible, bring them to justice.” </s> Gregory Katz and Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press 

 



LONDON -- Russian intelligence agencies monitored the emails of former spy Sergei Skripal's daughter Yulia for at least five years before the two were poisoned, Britain's national security adviser said in a letter made public Friday.

Mark Sedwill made the assertion in a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg explaining Britain's conclusion that the Russian government is to blame for poisoning the Skripals with a military-grade nerve agent on March 4.

He said only Russia has the "technical means, operational experience and the motive" for the attack.

Moscow has strongly denied responsibility and says Britain is waging a defamation campaign against it.

In the letter, Sedwill said the Soviet Union developed fourth generation nerve agents known as Novichoks in the 1980s at the State Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology near Volgograd under the codeword FOLIANT.

"It is highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international chemical weapons controls," he said. "The Russian state has previously produced Novichoks and would still be capable of doing so."

He said that after the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention without reporting its ongoing work on Novichoks. He said it was highly unlikely that any former Soviet republic besides Russia pursued an offensive chemical weapons program.

Russia denies the British claims about Novichok, saying that it completed the destruction of all its Soviet-era chemical weapons arsenals last year under international oversight. It insists that the nerve agent used on the Skripals could easily have been manufactured in any of the other countries that have advanced chemical research programs.

Sedwill said Moscow had a proven record of state-sponsored assassinations and had tested ways of delivering chemical weapons, including the use of door handles to spread nerve agents, as Britain believes was done in the Skripal case.

He also said Russia had a clear motive for attacking Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer who had been imprisoned in Russia for spying for Britain only to be set free in a spy swap in 2010.

"It is highly likely that the Russian intelligence services view at least some of its defectors as legitimate targets for assassination," he said. "We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals, dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU (military intelligence) cyber specialists."

Russia's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Alexander Yakovenko, dismissed the charges Friday as unfounded and untrue.

Yulia Skripal, 33, was released from the hospital this week. The poisoning happened in the city of Salisbury shortly after she arrived from Moscow for a visit. Her father remains hospitalized but British health officials say he is improving.

Russia has charged that British officials are keeping Skripal's daughter in isolation. It demanded access to her and prodded Britain to share evidence in the case.

Also Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to an international chemical weapons watchdog's report on the poisoning.

Investigators at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed British findings that the Skripals were poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent but didn't say who was responsible.

Lavrov said the report does nothing to back the British allegations that Moscow was behind the attack.

"I want to underline: the OPCW only has confirmed the composition of the chemical agent," Lavrov said at a news conference. </s> Vladimir Yermakov, the Russian foreign ministry head of non-proliferation, held a “briefing” for foreign diplomats in Moscow during which he questioned whether the incident, which left former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter, Yulia, 33, fighting for their lives even involved a nerve agent. But his briefing was interrupted when British diplomat Emma Nottingham said there had been “a barrage of distortion and misinformation” as well as “an unlawful use of force against the United Kingdom.” Mr Yermakov fired back: “Get yourself out of your Russophobia and your island mentality. I feel ashamed for you.” The Russian Foreign Ministry event in Moscow was attended by dozens of foreign diplomats and broadcast on state TV.

But the two sides launched sharp allegations against each other over the nerve agent attack. The attack in Salisbury, England, has plunged ties between London and Moscow into their worst crisis since the Cold War. Britain has blamed Russia for the attack - something Moscow denies - and both have expelled diplomats in the standoff. Russia had organised Wednesday's event to explain its stance and lost little time in alleging that Britain itself had either directly or indirectly orchestrated the attack or had allowed "a terrorist attack" to take place on British soil.

Mr Yermakov added: “Nobody understands what happened in Salisbury. Let's investigate what really happened." However, Ms Nottingham said it was "highly likely" that Moscow stood behind the attempted assassination of the Skripals for four reasons: "The identification of the chemical agent by our world leading scientists, our knowledge that Russia has previously produced this agent ... Russia's record in conducting state-sponsored assassinations ... and our assessment that Russia views defectors as legitimate targets." Many ambassadors including those of Britain, France, Germany and the United States, stayed away from the Moscow event, sending more junior officials instead. US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated solidarity with Britain in a telephone call on Wednesday and "agreed on the need to take action to hold Russia accountable", the White House said. </s> LONDON (AP) — The Russian ex-spy and his daughter left critically ill in a nerve agent attack three weeks ago were probably poisoned at the front door of their home in southwestern England, British police said Wednesday.

It was the first time police have said where they thought Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia might have been poisoned.

The highest concentration of nerve agent found so far was on the Skripals' front door in Salisbury, and detectives plan to focus their investigation in the surrounding area, London's Metropolitan Police force said in a statement.

"At this point in our investigation, we believe the Skripals first came in contact with the nerve agent from their front door," Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon said in the statement.

Police have also searched a variety of sites around Salisbury, including a pub, a restaurant and a cemetery.

Britain has blamed Russia for the attack, triggering the expulsion of about 150 Russian diplomats from the U.K., U.S. and their Western allies. Russia has vowed to respond, but a senior diplomat said Wednesday there is no hurry to retaliate.

Russia vehemently denies Britain's accusation that it was behind the March 4 attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA Novosti state news agency that Moscow is "thoughtfully and thoroughly" considering its response. Separately, he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the expulsions were directed by London and Washington, adding that other nations succumbed to their pressure. He added that "all options are on the table" regarding Russia's response.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Russia's response "will suit the interests of Russia."

President Donald Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May about the coordinated effort by Western allies to expel Russian intelligence operatives. The White House said the leaders agreed Wednesday that dismantling Russian spy rings is a priority to "curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country's soil."

Skripal was imprisoned in Russia after he sold secrets to British intelligence. He was released in a 2010 spy swap and moved to Britain.

Britain says the Skripals were poisoned with a nerve agent developed in Soviet times and that it must have come from Russia. Russian officials complain that Britain hasn't presented evidence to back up the accusation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that British special services could have been behind the poisoning. British officials have previously rejected such Russian claims as nonsense.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Sign up for one of our email newsletters.

LONDON — The Russian ex-spy and his daughter left critically ill in a nerve agent attack three weeks ago were probably poisoned at the front door of their home in southwestern England, British police said Wednesday.

It was the first time police have said where they thought Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia might have been poisoned.

The highest concentration of nerve agent found so far was on the Skripals' front door in Salisbury, and detectives plan to focus their investigation in the surrounding area, London's Metropolitan Police force said in a statement.

“At this point in our investigation, we believe the Skripals first came in contact with the nerve agent from their front door,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon said in the statement.

Police have also searched a variety of sites around Salisbury, including a pub, a restaurant and a cemetery.

Britain has blamed Russia for the attack, triggering the expulsion of about 150 Russian diplomats from the U.K., U.S. and their Western allies. Russia has vowed to respond, but a senior diplomat said Wednesday there is no hurry to retaliate.

Russia vehemently denies Britain's accusation that it was behind the March 4 attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA Novosti state news agency that Moscow is “thoughtfully and thoroughly” considering its response. Separately, he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the expulsions were directed by London and Washington, adding that other nations succumbed to their pressure. He added that “all options are on the table” regarding Russia's response.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Russia's response “will suit the interests of Russia.”

President Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May about the coordinated effort by Western allies to expel Russian intelligence operatives. The White House said the leaders agreed Wednesday that dismantling Russian spy rings is a priority to “curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country's soil.”

Skripal was imprisoned in Russia after he sold secrets to British intelligence. He was released in a 2010 spy swap and moved to Britain.

Britain says the Skripals were poisoned with a nerve agent developed in Soviet times and that it must have come from Russia. Russian officials complain that Britain hasn't presented evidence to back up the accusation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that British special services could have been behind the poisoning. British officials have previously rejected such Russian claims as nonsense. </s> British police said on Wednesday that former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, poisoned by a nerve toxin in an attack which Britain has blamed on Moscow, may have been exposed to the substance at the front door of their home.

“Specialists have identified the highest concentration of the nerve agent, to-date, as being on the front door of the address,” a statement by Scotland Yard said.

“At this point in our investigation, we believe the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent from their front door,” Dean Haydon, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command, was quoted as saying on the police website.

“We are therefore focusing much of our efforts in and around their address.”

Allegations by London that the attack on 66-year-old Skripal, a former GRU military intelligence officer who betrayed scores of Russian agents to Britain, was the work of Moscow have been denied by Russia.

But the affair has plunged Moscow’s relations with the West to a new post-Cold War low with Western governments, including the United States and Britain expelling scores of Russian diplomats.

Moscow has threatened to take retaliatory action.

Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia have been in a critical condition since being found unconscious on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4 and a British judge has said they may have suffered permanent brain damage. </s> The Kremlin has said Russia is not investigating the two men that Britain has named as suspects in the nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy.

Britain on Wednesday announced charges in absentia against two alleged Russian agents, and Theresa May has accused the Russian government of orchestrating the March attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, said on Thursday that the prime minister's accusations were "unacceptable" and that "no one in the Russian leadership" has anything to do with the poisoning.

Peskov said Russia "has no reasons" to investigate the two individuals – Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov– charged on Wednesday because Britain had not asked for legal assistance with the case.

“Neither the highest-level of Russia’s leadership, nor lower ranks, nor any official representatives had or have anything to do with the events in Salisbury,” said Peskov. “Even the suggestion that they did so is unacceptable. Russia was not involved.”

May told the House of Commons on Wednesday that the attempted murder of Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, and his daughter, Yulia, had likely been approved at the highest levels of the Russian government. Ben Wallace, the British security minister, said on Thursday that Putin was “ultimately responsible".

Peskov also said Russia had not received any official request from Britain for assistance in identifying the two suspected Russian GRU military intelligence officers that Scotland Yard believes carried out the attack – the first use of chemical weapons in Europe since the end of the second world war. “For us to be able to do something in this direction, we need to receive a request,” Peskov said. “This is usual international practice.”

Earlier Russia said its request for the British embassy in Moscow to provide the fingerprint records of the two men had been met with “an unconditional refusal”.

Moscow said Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador to Russia, was summoned to the foreign ministry shortly after May’s statement.

Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, told state television that Russian nationals would have had to provide fingerprints to receive a British visa.

Appearing in the studio of the 60 Minutes programme, she called the British refusal to allow Russia to study the alleged GRU officers’ fingerprints records “a gross rudeness”. The UK had refused to share evidence through official channels, she complained, and had staged an “absurd and funny provocation”.

Zakharova claimed Moscow was still open to cooperating with London in the investigation into the attack in Salisbury. The British embassy was not immediately available for comment.

She also described British accusations that Russia was behind the high-profile poisoning in Salisbury as “a hellish carousel that has no end or beginning”. She accused British authorities of doctoring CCTV images that the Metropolitan police say show the two suspects arriving on Friday 2 March at Gatwick airport. Police say the two men used aliases to travel to Britain.

“The same place, the same corridor, and the timestamp on the footage is identical to the second,” Zakharova said. “Accordingly, either the date and the exact time were overlaid on the image, or these are GRU agents who have learned to walk synchronously while appearing separately in two different photos. You know, this is god-level trolling,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman added, using a computer-game term.

On Thursday Scotland Yard said the images of the two suspects at Gatwick were taken from two different cameras covering separate lanes. The photos were recorded at the point passengers exit from international arrivals, a spokesperson said. Gatwick airport has several, nearly identical gate corridors that people arriving in Britain must pass through. The Scotland Yard response was also cited by Russia’s state-controlled RIA Novosti news agency.

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the Russian parliament’s international relations committee, also lashed out at May’s allegations that Moscow had dispatched would-be assassins to Salisbury.

"Britain is continuing a large-scale anti-Russian provocation,” he said. "This is absolute nonsense. Once again there is no real evidence of Russia's involvement, only ungrounded accusations.”

May’s claims that GRU officers carried out the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury came two days after Putin signed a presidential decree making information about freelance agents who carry out operations for Russian foreign intelligence services a state secret.

On Wednesday, Estonia said it had detained two of its nationals on suspicion of spying for Russia. One worked at the country’s defence forces’ headquarters. The men are suspected of passing Estonian and foreign classified information to GRU officers. </s> LONDON — The Russian ex-spy and his daughter left critically ill in a nerve agent attack three weeks ago were probably poisoned at the front door of their home in southwestern England, British police said Wednesday.

It was the first time police have said where they thought Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia might have been poisoned.

The highest concentration of nerve agent found so far was on the Skripals’ front door in Salisbury, and detectives plan to focus their investigation in the surrounding area, London’s Metropolitan Police force said in a statement.

“At this point in our investigation, we believe the Skripals first came in contact with the nerve agent from their front door,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon said in the statement.

Police have also searched a variety of sites around Salisbury, including a pub, a restaurant and a cemetery.

Britain has blamed Russia for the attack, triggering the expulsion of about 150 Russian diplomats from the U.K., U.S. and their Western allies. Russia has vowed to respond, but a senior diplomat said Wednesday there is no hurry to retaliate.

Russia vehemently denies Britain’s accusation that it was behind the March 4 attack.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the RIA Novosti state news agency that Moscow is “thoughtfully and thoroughly” considering its response. Separately, he was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the expulsions were directed by London and Washington, adding that other nations succumbed to their pressure. He added that “all options are on the table” regarding Russia’s response.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Russia’s response “will suit the interests of Russia.”

President Donald Trump spoke with British Prime Minister Theresa May about the coordinated effort by Western allies to expel Russian intelligence operatives. The White House said the leaders agreed Wednesday that dismantling Russian spy rings is a priority to “curtail Russian clandestine activities and prevent future chemical weapons attacks on either country’s soil.”

Skripal was imprisoned in Russia after he sold secrets to British intelligence. He was released in a 2010 spy swap and moved to Britain.

Britain says the Skripals were poisoned with a nerve agent developed in Soviet times and that it must have come from Russia. Russian officials complain that Britain hasn’t presented evidence to back up the accusation.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that British special services could have been behind the poisoning. British officials have previously rejected such Russian claims as nonsense.
Sir Mark Sedwill, national security advisor to the United Kingdom, says Russian intelligence targeted Yulia Skripal's email account.