Salisbury Novichok poisoning: New evidence on Russia’s UK attack requires new action

British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday released new facts about the Russian nerve-agent attack on UK soil back in March. Is the West too distracted by its own divisions to do much about it?

The attack didn’t kill its target, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, however it did sicken him, his female offspring and 2 different unlucky Brits — one amongst whom died.

The new data includes the aliases of the 2 Russian agents: Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, currently charged with murder (though Moscow can ne'er throw out them).

The proof, May noted, shows that each square measure active officers in Russia’s military intelligence, the GRU. The operation, she said, “was virtually actually approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state.”

Britain known as Thursday's meeting of the UN Security Council daily when Mother Teresa could self-addressed MPs regarding the suspects.

Russia could be a permanent member of the safety Council and can be diagrammatical at the meeting aboard kingdom allies the USA and France.

Mr Wallace same the united kingdom should use the meeting to "maintain the pressure, to mention the behaviour we've got seen is completely unacceptable".

And BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera same that aboard the meeting, it absolutely was thought there would be less visible activity, together with covert work by British intelligence to disrupt the GRU.

Mrs could has conjointly same Britain can push for the EU to agree new sanctions against Russia.

Ahead of the UN meeting, Australia same it absolutely was "in lock step with the united kingdom on the importance of holding Russia to account" over the "dangerous and deliberate act".

Mr Putin's policy authority Yuri Ushakov told reporters the names of the Russian suspects "do not mean something to me".

Responding to the recent accusations, the Kremlin's media machine resorted to its usual tactic: a mixture of denials and humor.

"Don't laugh," same a talk-show host on state TV, delivering the most recent news from London.

The foreign ministry's representative, Maria Zakharova, place in associate degree look herself to accuse the united kingdom of fabricating the Skripal case. "This whole story was created to penalise Russia... to introduce sanctions," she same on Rossiya one TV.

"A detective story" and "an absurd political thriller" were a number of the epithets utilized by Russian news bulletins, that conjointly claimed that Britain's allegations weren't protected by a shred of proof.

At an equivalent time, they unemployed the suspects' images free by London as crude deceit.

"Put proof on the table or head to hell," same one commentator on Russian state TV.

Police same Ms Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley were later exposed to Novichok in Amesbury, close to national capital, when handling a contaminated instrumentality, tagged as Semitic deity Ricci Premier Jour fragrance.

Mr Rowley told police he found the box containing the little bottle associate degreed an device - all found to be counterfeit - during a charity bin.

He tried to place the 2 elements along and got a number of the contents on himself. His partner Ms Sturgess applied a number of the contents to her wrists and have become unwell.

The bottle, with a changed nozzle, had contained a "significant amount" of Novichok, constabulary same.

The Crown Prosecution Service says Petrov and Boshirov ought to be charged with offences together with conspiracy to murder; tried murder and therefore the use and possession of Novichok contrary to the Chemical Weapons Act.

The offences solely relate to the national capital attack. Police same officers square measure continued to figure with the Crown Prosecution Service on the Amesbury incident.