LONDON, March 6. /TASS/. Russia’s Ambassador to London Alexander Yakovenko has suggested a meeting with the son of the British woman who died from the nerve agent poisoning in Amesbury, in order to answer any question that the man might have, the Russian embassy to the UK said on Wednesday.
"Today on March 6th, through the ‘Sunday Mirror’ editorial office, the Embassy received a copy of the letter addressed to the President of Russia Vladimir Putin from Ewan Hope, son of the late Dawn Sturgess, regarding the circumstances of his mother’s death," the embassy said in a press release.
"Ambassador Yakovenko has sent Mr. Hope a reply, in which he has expressed his condolences on the tragic death of Ms. Sturgess and proposed a meeting to answer in person to any questions that Mr. Hope might have," the press release says.
"The letter was accompanied by the report ‘Salisbury: Unanswered Questions’ on the key elements of the events one year ago, published by the Embassy on March 3rd 2019," it added.
In an interview with the latest issue of the Sunday Mirror, Ewan Hope, 20, one of Dawn Sturgess’ three children, said that he "felt betrayed and let down by the Government." He also accused the British government of offering no support. The daily published his letter to Vladimir Putin in which he asks the Russian president to "allow our officers to question" the suspects "about my mum’s murder." "The least she deserves is justice," he said in the letter.
Amesbury and Salisbury incidents
According to London's version, on March 4, 2018 former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia of spying for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, were exposed to a 'Novichok-class' nerve agent in Salisbury. The British government claimed that Russia was "highly likely" behind the incident. However, Moscow strongly dismissed all speculations on that score, adding that programs for developing this substance had never existed in the Soviet Union or Russia. Britain’s military chemical laboratory at Porton Down failed to pinpoint the origin of the substance that poisoned the Skripals.
On June 30, 2018 Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charles Rowley, 45, were hospitalized in critical condition in the British town of Amesbury, Wiltshire County. Sturgess was reported to have died in hospital on July 8, while Rowley was discharged from the hospital on July 20. In middle August he was again admitted to hospital after complaining of vision problems.
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said in its report on September 4 that Dawn Sturgess died after being exposed to the same nerve agent that had been allegedly used in the March attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal in neighboring Salisbury.
British Prime Minister Theresa May on September 5 briefed Parliament on progress in the investigation to declare that two Russians carrying passports issued in the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were the suspected attackers. British special services claimed that both were GRU agents. Then men were interviewed on the RT television channel to dismiss the speculations as preposterous.