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WORLD NEWS Monday 19 March 2018

Amid spy row, UK accuses Russia of stockpiling a nerve agent

plied: "I don't know." which clouded the run-up meet this week to discuss
The British government dis- to Sunday's presidential what further measures the
missed the ambassador's election in Russia. Presi- country might take.
suggestion as "nonsense." dent Vladimir Putin is widely He said these could in-
Johnson said it was "not the expected to win a fourth clude “defending ourselves
response of a country that term. against cyber-attack,
really believed itself to be Western powers see the (and) looking at any eco-
innocent." poisoning of the Skripals as nomic measures that could
Britain and Russia have the latest sign of increas- be taken against Russians
each expelled 23 diplo- ingly aggressive Russian in- who corruptly obtained
mats, broken off high-level terference in foreign coun- their wealth.” The spy dis-
contacts and taken other tries. pute has sent U.K.-Russia re-
punitive steps in the esca- Johnson said Britain's Na- lations to Cold War-levels of
lating tit-for-tat dispute, tional Security Council will tension.q

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson speaks at a joint press
conference with the Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz
during a visit to the Battle of Britain Bunker, in Uxbridge, England.
(Tolga Akmen/Pool Photo via AP)

By JILL LAWLESS He also said officials from
LONDON (AP) — Britain's the Netherlands-based Or-
foreign minister said Sun- ganization for the Prohibi-
day that he has evidence tion of Chemical Weapons
Russia has been stockpiling would arrive Monday in Brit-
a nerve agent in violation ain to take samples of the
of international law "very nerve agent used to poison
likely for the purposes of as- the Skripals.
sassination." Britain says it is Novichok,
Foreign Secretary Boris a class of powerful nerve
Johnson said the trail of agent developed in the So-
blame for the poisoning of viet Union toward the end
former Russian spy Sergei of the Cold War. Tests to in-
Skripal and his daughter dependently verify the Brit-
Yulia in the English city of ish findings are expected
Salisbury "leads inexorably to take at least two weeks,
to the Kremlin." Britain's Foreign Office said.
His comment came after a Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow's
Russian envoy suggested EU ambassador, said Russia
the toxin used to poison the has no chemical weapons
Skripals could have come stockpiles and was not be-
from a U.K. lab. hind the poisoning.
Johnson told reporters that "Russia had nothing to do
Britain has information that with it," Chizhov told the
within the last 10 years, "the BBC.
Russian state has been en- Chizhov pointed out that
gaged in investigating the the U.K. chemical weap-
delivery of such agents, ons research facility, Porton
Novichok agents ... very Down, is only eight miles
likely for the purposes of as- (12 kilometers) from Salis-
sassination." bury, where Sergei Skripal
He said "they have been — a former Russian intelli-
producing and stockpiling gence officer convicted in
Novichok, contrary to what his home country of spying
they have been saying." for Britain— and his daugh-
Johnson said he will brief ter were found on March 4.
European Union foreign They remain in critical con-
ministers on the case Mon- dition.
day before meeting with Asked whether he was say-
NATO Secretary-General ing that Porton Down was
Jens Stoltenberg. responsible, Chizhov re-