MOSCOW, April 14. /TASS/. An independent analysis of the chemical used in the Salisbury incident has uncovered traces of the chemical weapons that were in operational service in the United States, the United Kingdom and some other NATO members, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday at the annual Assembly of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy.

"That laboratory, where, I am convinced, professional scientists work, who value their reputation, made the following conclusions. Now I am going to cite the document. The analysis of the samples uncovered traces of the toxic chemical BZ and its precursors falling into the second category of chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention," Lavrov explained.

"The abovementioned ‘formulas’ have been in service in the United States, the United Kingdom and some other NATO members," he went on citing the report. "Neither the Soviet Union nor Russia has ever developed or stockpiled similar chemical weapons.

"It has come to our attention that, according data from the Swiss center for radiology and bacteriological analysis in Spiez, that has been received confidentially, the experts of the center on May 27 concluded the research of the samples received from the OPCW, which were selected by the OPCW at the site of poisoning in Salisbury," Lavrov said.