Russian politician suggests US or UK could have obtained nerve toxin used to poison ex-spy
Russia has denied poisoning former double agent Sergei Skripal in Britain, and some in the UK are now also questioning whether the evidence is incontrovertible
A Russian lawmaker has claimed that the US and Britain could have obtained Novichok, the nerve toxin used to attack a former Russian double-agent in the UK earlier this month.
Britain has said that Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked with the Soviet-created nerve agent on March 4 by Russian agents. The pair both remain in hospital.
But on Thursday the deputy chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament said that the poison could have been obtained by the US or UK in 1999, joining a chorus of doubting voices in both Russia and the UK.
Lawmaker Alexei Chepa said on Thursday that the US was involved in cleaning up Nukus, an isolated city in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan where Novichok was purportedly used, in 1999.
That could have allowed the US to learn about the nerve agent, Chepa said.
“The Americans had access not only to the technology, but had access to its development. In all likelihood, their Nato partners from Britain also had this access.”