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London will be unable to prove its story of Salisbury affair, Russian diplomat warns

THE HAGUE, April 18. /TASS/. Britain will be unable to provide any real proof to confirm its story of the Salisbury incident, Russia’s envoy to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, said at an urgent meeting of the OPCW Executive Council on Wednesday.

"I have no doubts that we will see more fakes and pseudo-leaks to the mass media and disgraceful escapades by British officials against us," he said. "But no real proof will ever be presented."

Shulgin said it would be possible to make the final conclusions regarding what had happened "only with the results of chemical and spectral analysis of the aforesaid samples before our eyes."

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Yulia Skripal ‘held hostage by British authorities’ — Russia's OPCW ambassador

"In the meantime, the Technical Secretariat has handed these materials only to London," he said.

"Great Britain strives to avoid at all costs the establishment of the truth about the events, hide all evidence, which could unmask them," he said.

According to London, former Russian GRU military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, sentenced in Russia for spying for the UK, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury on March 4. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that a program aimed at developing such a substance had existed neither in the Soviet Union nor in Russia.

On April 3, Chief Executive of the Defense Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) at Porton Down Gary Aitkenhead told Sky News that British experts had been unable to identify the origin of the nerve agent used to attack Skripal and his daughter.

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Foreign policy Skripal poisoning case

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OJSC Gazprom Transgaz Belarus is a 100% subsidiary of PJSC Gazprom in the Republic of Belarus