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Skripal poisoning case

Moscow chides UK for blocking data on amounts of toxic agents used in Salisbury

The Kremlin spokesman stressed though that "the use of such powerful chemical warfare agents in Europe was a very dangerous occurrence, which has raised profound concern"

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Mikhail Metzel/TASS

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Mikhail Metzel/TASS

YALTA, November 23. /TASS/. The Kremlin cannot comment on the quantity of the toxin used in Salisbury, since Russia has been barred from the investigation by Britain and lacks any information whatsoever on the matter, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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"Russia invited Britain to cooperate right from the start to shed light on the circumstances of that incident. However, our offer was rejected. We have gotten neither reciprocity nor any information whatsoever on what happened in Salisbury. We have no data on the type of the substance and its amounts. We have no information on those who were poisoned, where they disappeared to, and so on," Peskov said commenting on statements by the UK police asserting that the amount of the toxic chemical used in Salisbury would be enough to potentially kill thousands of people.

The Kremlin spokesman stressed though that "the use of such powerful chemical warfare agents in Europe was a very dangerous occurrence, which has raised profound concern." It is regrettable that the assistance offered by Russia to investigate the incident has been rejected, he added.

Skripal saga

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, a retired Russian military intelligence officer, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain and later swapped for Russian intelligence officers, and his daughter Yulia suffered the effects of an alleged nerve agent in the British city of Salisbury. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a so-called Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all the accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had a program aimed at developing such a substance.

On September 5, British Prime Minister Theresa May informed the UK parliament about the conclusions that the investigators looking into the Salisbury incident had come to, saying that two Russians, believed to be GRU agents, were suspected of conspiring to murder the Skripals. According to May, the assassination attempt was approved at "a senior level of the Russian state." Later, the Metropolitan Police published photos of the individuals they labelled as ‘the suspects’, saying their names were Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

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Skripal poisoning case

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