MOSCOW, September 22. /TASS/. British citizen Charlie Rowley, who was allegedly exposed to Novichok nerve agent in Amesbury last summer, is planning to sue the Russian state and demand a compensation of 1 mln pound sterling ($1.25 mln), The Mirror newspaper reported citing his lawyer Patrick Maguire.
On June 30, 2018, 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and 45-year-old Charlie Rowley were hospitalized in critical condition in the British town of Amesbury. The Metropolitan Police claimed the two had been exposed to Novichok. Sturgess died on July 8, while Rowley was discharged from hospital on July 20. London’s police anti-terrorism department earlier stated that Sturgess and Rowley had come into contact with Novichok - the same nerve agent that had poisoned former GRU (Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate) officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
According to Maguire, Rowley continued suffering "serious side effects from the toxin he ingested." However, his greatest concern was to uncover the truth about what had really happened, he noted. Maguire suggested suing the Russian government, which London blames for the incident.
"This has affected my life in a huge way. I want justice," Rowley said, according to the paper.
This April, Rowley met with then Russian Ambassador to the UK Alexander Yakovenko. The Russian envoy outlined in detail Moscow's view on what had happened in Salisbury and Amesbury, and emphasized that the numerous requests from the Russian side to the British authorities mostly remained unanswered. According to the diplomatic mission, Rowley had met with then UK Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss the case, but he was dissatisfied with the conversation.
Skripal saga
According to London, former Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) Colonel Sergei Skripal, 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 on March 4, 2018. Claiming that the substance used in the attack had been a Novichok-class nerve agent developed in the Soviet Union, London rushed to accuse Russia of being involved in the incident. Moscow rejected all of the United Kingdom’s accusations, saying that neither the Soviet Union nor Russia ever had any program aimed at developing such a substance.