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London deliberately destroying evidence on Skripal case - Russian UN envoy

Vasily Nebenzya also noted that the OPCW mission has failed to identify the country of origin of the toxic agent that was used to poison the Skripals
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya AP Photo/Julie Jacobson
Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya
© AP Photo/Julie Jacobson

LONDON, April 18. /TASS/. The British authorities are deliberately destroying evidence and material objects related to the case of alleged poisoning of former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said on Wednesday at a UN Security Council meeting.

The British side, in his words, has given no answers to most of the questions asked by Russia.

"In between, the British authorities, on the sly, are deliberately destroying evidence and material objects. Skripal’s pets have been eliminated, with no samples taken from them. Efforst are being taken to do away with all the places the Skripals visited: the bar, the restaurant, the bench, the soil on the part, etc.," he said, adding that paradoxically, "ordinary people go on living in Salisbury as if nothing had happened."

Origin of toxic agent

Nebenzya added that the mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has failed to identify the country of origin of the toxic agent that was used to poison the Skripals.

"To start with, we asked the main question, the key question of the OPCW mission’s head, i.e. whether it is really possible to identify the country of origin of the toxic agent after the independent probe. And we received a clear, unequivocal answer: No, it is impossible to do that," he said, adding that the Russian side had asked a number of "other very important questions" and hoped to receive explanations.

No proof of Russia's involvement

The report of the OPCW has nothing that can prove the United Kingdom’s allegations about Russia’s involvement in the Salisbury incident, Nebenzya noted.

"All we heard today was the same old list of ungrounded allegations backed by the OPCW authority," he said.

"To start with, the OPCW report has nothing that can help the British side back its false allegations about Russia’s involvement in the Salisbury incident. The main thing the report does not contain and which the British side craved so much is a conclusion that the agent used in Salisbury had originated from Russia," he said.

On March 4, former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, 66, who had been earlier sentenced in Russia for spying for the UK, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious on a bench near the Maltings shopping center in Salisbury, UK. Police said they had been exposed to a nerve agent.

Later, London claimed that the toxin of Novichok-class had been allegedly developed in Russia. With that, the UK rushed to accuse Russia of being involved, while failing to produce any evidence. Moscow refuted the accusations that it had participated in the incident and points out that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia have ever done research into that toxic chemical.