Sergei Skripal

UK Says They Can Pinpoint the Russian Lab That Produced Nerve Agent

British security forces believe that while they are not 100 percent certain, they have a “high degree of confidence in the location” of the Russian source of the nerve agent Novichok that was used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

A government source told the Times that security forces “knew pretty much by the time of the first Cobra [the emergency co-ordination briefing that took place the same week] that it was overwhelmingly likely to come from Russia.”
Security sources told the Times they believe Russians conducted tests to see whether Novichok could be used for assassinations.
The international chemical weapons watchdog on Wednesday rejected Russia’s call for a joint investigation into the Salisbury poisoning. But Russia said the number of countries that abstained from the vote suggested many have doubts about Britain’s allegations that Moscow was behind the attack and now plans to take its denials of involvement to the U.N. Security Council.
Britain said Russia’s proposal for a joint investigation received only six votes at a special session of the executive council of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The council has representatives from 41 countries.
Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer, was convicted of in Russia of spying for Britain. He was released from a Russian prison as part of a spy swap with the West.
His poisoning has plunged relations between the West and Russia to their lowest ebb since the Cold War.
In Moscow, Russia’s spymaster claimed U.K. and U.S. intelligence agencies “staged” the attack.

Sergei Naryshkin, director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, continues to claim that the assassination attempt of Skripal was a “grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and U.S. intelligence agencies.” Meanwhile, the 28-nation European Union lamented the refusal of Russia to cooperate with the British.

To read the entire article from CBS News, click here:

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Nerve Agent Poisoning Puts Secret Russian Military Labs in the Spotlight

The recent events that unfolded in the UK with the nerve agent poisoning of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter on a bench in Salisbury is putting the secret labs of the Russians that research and manufacture these weapons in the spotlight.

During his last run for the presidency, in 2012, Russian leader Vladimir Putin startled U.S. military experts with a mysterious pledge to develop novel kinds of weapons to counter the West’s technological edge. Armies of the future, he said, would need weapons “based on new physical principles” including “genetic” and “psychophysical” science.
“Such high-tech weapons systems will be comparable in effect to nuclear weapons,” Putin said in an essay published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Russian government’s newspaper of record, “but will be more ‘acceptable’ in terms of political and military ideology.”
Since the start of Putin’s second term, a construction boom has been underway at more than two dozen institutes that were once part of the Soviet Union’s biological and chemical weapons establishment, according to Russian documents and photos compiled by independent researchers. That expansion, which includes multiple new or refurbished testing facilities, is particularly apparent at secret Defense Ministry laboratories that have long drawn the suspicions of U.S. officials over possible arms-treaty violations.
“The big question is, why are they doing this?” said Raymond Zilinskas, a chemical and biological weapons expert with the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, Calif. In a newly released book, “Biosecurity in Putin’s Russia,” Zilinskas and co-author Philippe Mauger analyze hundreds of contract documents and other records that show a surge in Russian research interest in subjects ranging from genetically modified pathogens to nonlethal chemical weapons used for crowd control.
During the Cold War, Soviet leaders spent vast sums to create weaponized versions of 11 different pathogens — including the microbes that cause anthrax, smallpox and the plague — while also experimenting with genetically altered strains. They created new classes of chemical toxins, such as Novichok, reportedly used in the attempted assassination of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England.
A fourth-generation nerve agent more deadly than VX, Novichok is the stuff of legend. Russia denies that it ever researched or manufactured such nerve agents, but it arrested a former Soviet weapons scientist on charges of divulging state secrets after he published details about Soviet Novichok production in newspaper articles and a memoir.

Even after the fall of the former Soviet Union, the Russians didn’t allow inspectors inside their former chemical warfare research labs. Some thought the shape of the labs was part of the reason but many in the intelligence field believed that they were hiding something.

To read the entire article from Washington Post, click here:

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Nerve Agent Case A Nasty Reminder of Who the West is Dealing With

Op-ed: The curious case of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, both of whom were found slumped on a park bench, poisoned in Salisbury, outside of Stonehenge, England has all the makings of an assassination. And if it turns out to be just that, an assassination attempt by the Russians, which it does, it is going to set things back a very long way between the UK, the West, and Russia.

Sergei Skripal was a spy, and he was caught by the Russians, supposedly passing secrets off to the British MI6. He was arrested for treason but was traded in 2010 for numerous Russian “sleeper” agents in the U.S. He has been living in the UK quietly since then.

The investigation into the nerve agent poisoning has been turned over from the police to the Counter-Terrorism Police. The official explanation was that due to the “unusual circumstances” the counter-terrorism unit would now be heading the investigation.

British intelligence sources report that toxicology tests would be key. The fact that it was Novichok explains a lot. The Russians were very brazen in their attempt to kill Skripal and they aren’t worried about repercussions. In fact, they seem to be using this to send a message.

What is Novichok? The former Soviet Union invented Novichok agents and “pioneered their manufacturing techniques,” said Dan Kaszeta, an expert in chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense with Strongpoint Security, a defense and security consultancy in London.

In several Twitter posts, Kaszeta said the agents were “specifically developed to evade the West/NATO’s detection capabilities” and deter efforts to collect intelligence. Experts believe that Novichok, considered to be among the deadliest chemical agents, was manufactured specifically to kill people.

Kaszeta added that the Soviets, and subsequently Russian authorities, “went to great lengths to keep the program secret at a point when the USSR had already agreed in principle to chemical arms control.”

The 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Russia was a signatory, aimed to eliminate the production, acquisition and stockpiling of chemical weapons, according to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

However, Novichok was designed to circumvent those conventions. Nerve agents such as Novichok are rare, tightly controlled substances that require intimate specialized knowledge to manufacture and store safely. There isn’t any way for some domestic terrorist to cook this up at home.

Nerve agents are easily dispersed and can be absorbed through the skin, ingested and inhaled. Kaszeta said at least one Novichok agent “is a solid at normal temperatures” and “could be deployed as a dust or powder,” allowing for slower absorption. And powder would be “harder to detect with normal chemical warfare detection means.”

Novichok agents are difficult to detect because it is made up of two different compounds that are not dangerous until they are mixed together which are not only hard to detect but very easy to transport. The only countries that manufacture Novichok are Russia and countries in the former Soviet Union.

Novichok is reported to be five to eights times more lethal than VX, the nerve agent reportedly used in the slaying of Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in Malaysia last year. The effects of Novichok act rapidly, and those affected generally feel the full impact of its side effects within 30 seconds to two minutes.

Effects of Nerve Agent: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported that a low dose of nerve agent could cause “minor poisoning,” with symptoms such as “increased production of saliva, a runny nose and a feeling of pressure on the chest.” Additional warning signs include impaired night vision, headaches, fatigue, slurred speech, hallucinations, and nausea.

Exposure to a higher dose of nerve agent causes more dramatic and pronounced symptoms. These include difficulty in breathing leading to coughing; discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract causing cramps and vomiting; involuntary discharge of urine and defecation; running eyes; sweating; muscular weakness; and tremors or convulsions. Victims can lose consciousness and, in some cases, suffer a rapid collapse of body functions and die. Death by nerve agents is usually death by suffocation.

And the British have done their investigation as British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the nerve agent used to poison Skripal and his daughter was “a type developed by Russia.”

May said Russia has a long history of state-sponsored assassinations and British intelligence reports have established that it has produced Novichok and is capable of doing so again.

Prime Minister May said because of the difficulties of manufacturing and handling of Novichok, it was impossible not to conclude that the attack in Salisbury was either carried out by the Russians or that the Russians had lost control of its stockpile of nerve agent that it said was destroyed and “allowed it to get into the hands of others.”

It is unclear how and when the Skripals were exposed to the poison. They were reported to have visited a local restaurant and pub before being found slumped unconscious on a park bench. But the effects come on so quickly, it had to take place in the park or very close to the bench that they were found

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported that a low dose of nerve agent could cause “minor poisoning,” with symptoms such as “increased production of saliva, a running nose and a feeling of pressure on the chest.” Additional warning signs include impaired night vision, headaches, fatigue, slurred speech, hallucinations, and nausea.

Exposure to a higher dose of nerve agent causes more dramatic and pronounced symptoms, the agency reported. These include difficulty in breathing leading to coughing; discomfort in the gastrointestinal tract causing cramps and vomiting; involuntary discharge of urine and defecation; running eyes; sweating; muscular weakness; and tremors or convulsions. Victims can lose consciousness and, in some cases, suffer a rapid collapse of body functions and die.

Sending A Message: One former Russian operative has said nerve agents were used only if the goal was to draw attention to the target. “This is a very dirty method. There’s a risk of contaminating other people, which creates additional difficulties,” he told the British media, adding: “There are far more delicate methods that professionals use.”

So why did the Russians try to send a message in such a brazen fashion? One is the election that Putin hasn’t even campaigned for because it was already decided. Voter apathy is projected to be extremely low. The opposition’s leaders are calling for the populace to boycott the vote giving the impression that Putin is supported by very few of the populace. The Russians have been largely trumpeting this as a British plot to turn the world against Russia. It is a ploy that plays well to the majority of the population and has been used forever by Moscow.

Another possible scenario may be tied to the Skripal case across the pond in the U.S. President Trump hasn’t made a ton of friends with his silence on this. The President is on Twitter non-stop but this hasn’t registered on his radar. Reportedly, he made a phone call to Theresa May, the British PM and said that the Russians have to give unambiguous answers on how this particular nerve agent came to be in England. But that’s it.

Rex Tillerson was the only member of the administration to come out and say anything close to the Russians were responsible. And he was fired, so the British, our closest allies in the world since the 1940s are getting precious little support.

The U.S. through the Mueller probe is looking into any Russian involvement in the 2016 election meddling. This could be a not-so-subtle message from Putin to Russian and American alike, that three can keep a secret if two are dead. Open your mouth to anyone and not only yourself but your families can be dealt with as well.

That is who you’re dealing with…

Photo: Wikipedia

Russia Stockpiling Nerve Agent, Says British Foreign Secretary Johnson

The British government isn’t backing down from accusing the Russians of being behind the attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson saying that the Russians are stockpiling the nerve agent used in the attack.

Sergei and his daughter Yulia Skripal remain critically ill in hospital after being found slumped on a bench and exposed to the substance in Salisbury.

Johnson also dismissed a suggestion by Russia’s EU ambassador that the agent might have come from a UK laboratory.
Vladimir Chizhov had said the Porton Down lab in Wiltshire may have been the source of the substance.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said Russia is “culpable” for the attack.
On Sunday, newly elected President Vladimir Putin denied Russia was behind the incident but added that he was “ready for co-operation” with the UK.
He told reporters: “Any reasonable person understands that it would be total rubbish, ravings and nonsense for anyone in Russia to allow themselves such antics ahead of the election and the World Cup.”
UK Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that Porton Down – Britain’s military research base – identified the substance used as being part of a group of military-grade nerve agents known as Novichok developed by the Soviet Union.
Mr Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “We actually have evidence within the last 10 years that Russia has not only been investigating the delivery of nerve agents for the purposes of assassination, but has also been creating and stockpiling Novichok.”
He said Russia’s reaction to the incident “was not the response of a country that really believes itself to be innocent”.

Meanwhile, the Russians deny the accusations and claim that the British are to blame for the attack and have said it is a plot by the West to alienate Russia due to setbacks in the Middle East, particularly Syria as an excuse.

To read the entire article from BBC, click here:

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German Defense Minister Blasts Russian Nerve Gas Attack in Britain

Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defense minister in the most strongly worded statement yet on the Sergei Skripal nerve agent poisoning, said that the Russians were most certainly behind the attack and tied this into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Von der Leyen appeared Thursday on Morgen Magazin, a joint breakfast show by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and stated that the Russians must cooperate in the investigation and vowed “consequences”.

The nerve agent attack was a “serious violation of international agreements on chemical weapons,” she said.

Britain has said it was “highly likely” Moscow was behind the attack, or that it had “lost control” of the military-grade nerve agent used against ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia nearly two weeks ago. The two remain in critical condition.
“It’s the very first time since World War II that a horrible chemical weapon has been used on European soil,” von der Leyen said, demanding Russia contribute to providing clarity on the incident.
Russia has denied any involvement in the nerve-agent attack, which prompted a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
Tom Tugendhat, a British MP and chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the House of Commons, told DW that Russia’s actions were “war-like.”
“Had [this chemical] been opened on the London Underground, for example, it would have killed hundreds of people. And to use it next to a children’s playground, where, had the children been there, it would have killed 30 or 40 children. This is a completely unacceptable, war-like act by a violent, deranged regime that is weakening and lashing out. This is a corrupt dictatorship that has to stop,” he said.
Von der Leyen also tied the UK nerve-agent attack to events in Syria, where Russia is allied with President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian regime has been accused of using banned chemical agentsagainst civilians and rebels.
“We see the Assad-allied forces using poison gas. Russia is the one the allies of Assad. That’s why it’s crucial for Russia to clarify what happened there,” von der Leyen said.

The outrage of the brazen attack on Skripal in the UK is opening up the investigations of more than just his attack. And the European NATO countries are going to be watching the events closely. But if history is any indication, the Russians won’t stop what they’ve always done and Putin’s administration will only grow stronger.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

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British Deploy Military to Salisbury After Nerve Gas Poison Attack

The British Ministry of Defense has deployed about 180 military personnel to Salisbury in an effort to investigate the nerve gas attempted murder attack of an ex-Russian spy and his daughter.

The MOD personnel are a mix of troops from the Army, Royal Marines, and RAF and are experts in chemical warfare and decontamination.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition after being exposed to a nerve agent.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, Cobra, on Saturday.

She has described Sunday’s attack as “outrageous”.
Those deployed include instructors from the Defence Chemical Biological Radiological and Nuclear Centre and the 29 Explosive Ordnance Group, who are experts in bomb disposal.
Members of the military were seen covering over a police car that has been at Salisbury Hospital since Sunday, before men dressed in white hazardous materials suits examined it.
It was later towed away from the hospital, covered by a tarpaulin, on the back of an Army truck.
Officers are also expected to secure Mr Skripal’s car.
Specialist officers have also put up a tent over the grave of Mr Skripal’s son, who died last year, at Salisbury cemetery.
The Metropolitan Police said the counter-terrorism unit has requested the military’s assistance “to remove a number of vehicles and objects from the scene”, including ambulances that may have been contaminated while assisting the victims.
The public should not be alarmed and there is no evidence to suggest a wide public health risk at this time, the police added.

Mr. Skripal and his daughter had visited a pub and a restaurant before being found unconscious on the park bench nearby last week. Both remain in critical condition in the hospital.

A British first responder who treated both at the scene is also in the hospital in serious but stable condition after being contaminated by the same nerve agent.

To read the entire article from the BBC, click here:

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Former Russian Spy In Critical Condition After Being Poisoned in UK

Sergei Skripal, 66, one of four Russians exchanged for 10 deep cover “sleeper” agents planted by Moscow in the U.S. is critically ill in a Salisbury hospital after being poisoned by “suspected exposure to an unknown substance”.

Wiltshire police said that a man in his 60s and a woman in her 30s were found unconscious on a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury on Sunday afternoon.
Temporary assistant chief constable Craig Holden said that the pair were believed to have been known to each other and were in a critical condition. He added: “This has not been declared as a counter-terrorism incident and we would urge people not to speculate.
“However, I must emphasise that we retain an open mind and we will continue to review this position.”
The UK’s top counter-terrorism officer said his specialists were supporting the investigation. Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said: “Clearly it’s a very unusual case and the critical thing is to get to the bottom of what has caused this incident as quickly as possible.
A passerby, Freya Church, saw the pair at the shopping centre. She told the BBC: “On the bench there was a couple – an older guy and a younger girl. She was leant in on him. It looked like she’d passed out. He was doing some strange hand movements, looking up to the sky. I felt anxious, like I should step in but they looked so out of it. They looked like they had been taking something quite strong.”
Zizzi restaurant on Castle Street in the city centre has been closed in connection with the incident “as a precaution” while the investigation continues, police said.
Skripal is a former Russian army colonel who was convicted of passing the identities of Russian agents working undercover in Europe to MI6 in 2006. He arrived in the UK as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010.
Igor Sutyagin, who was swapped at the same time as Skripal and is now in the UK, said “Vladimir Putin was once asked what type of people populate the world. He said traitors and enemies. I was told once by a Russian diplomat in London that Putin compared me to Judas. That is their attitude.”
Sergei Skripal as he was arrested by FSB agents in Moscow in 2006.

The Russian press claim that Skripal’s poisoning is a ploy by the British to influence the upcoming Presidential election where Vladimir Putin is running for re-election. The British released a photo of a man and woman who were walking near where the two were found on the park bench as persons of interest.

The case looks much like the 2006 death of former FSB operative Alexander Litvinenko who fell ill and died after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium. Litvinenko met his killers in the bar of the Millennium hotel in Mayfair, central London.

The two were Andrei Lugovoi – a former KGB officer turned businessman, who is now a deputy in Russia’s state Duma – and Dmitry Kovtun, a childhood friend of Lugovoi’s.

Putin denied all accusations over the killing and refused to extradite the pair.

To read the entire article from the Guardian, click here:

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