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Russian embassy: Any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesizing "Novichoks"

The Russian embassy in the UK says any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesizing nerve agents similar to "Novichok"

LONDON, April 13. /TASS/. Any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesizing nerve agents similar to "Novichok", which, according to London, was used on March 4 in the alleged poisoning of ex-GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, stated the report on the Skripal case distributed on Friday by the Russian embassy in the UK.

"Any modern chemical laboratory is capable of synthesizing "Novichoks", stated the 33-page document that sums up all the information regarding the case, including all the notes sent by the Russian embassy and all the replies to them. The report stressed Russia’s official position denying Moscow’s involvement in the Salisbury incident.

As for London’s official position, the Russian diplomatic mission compared it to the 2006 poisoning of ex-FSB employee Aleksandr Litvinenko in London, noting UK’s intent to classify key information.

The report dismissed the statements of British officials about Russian Duma’s law allowing the assassination of extremists overseas as an outright lie. "There is no such law in Russia," the document informed.

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, who had been convicted in Russia of spying for Great Britain, 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 incident had been a nerve agent allegedly developed in Russia, London rushed to accuse Moscow of being involved in the case without presenting any evidence. The Russian side flatly 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.