Russia’s ambassador to the UK has rejected the findings of an official investigation into the death of Dawn Sturgess, killed after the Salisbury poisoning attack in 2018.
The report concluded Vladimir Putin “must have” authorised the use of a nerve agent in the attack and was therefore “morally responsible” for the British woman’s death.
Ambassador Andrei Kelin dismissed those claims and said he did not have a message for her family because Moscow was not involved.
“It’s a tragic death, it is of course sad and Russia has nothing to do with it,” he said.
The poisonings of Sergei Skripal – a former Russian spy – and his daughter were, he insisted, staged by the British government and secret services.
“The script is very elaborated,” he said.
“It has been done by very talented professionals. It reminds me of Ian Fleming or even Agatha Christie”
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But the ambassador offered no evidence to support his claim.
In contrast the British government and independent investigative journalists have produced abundant evidence to show the poisonings were the work of Russia military intelligence agents.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, of which Russia is a member, verified British claims novichok was used, a nerve agent invented and used only by Russia.
A public inquiry found two agents from Russia’s GRU spy agency, using the aliases Alexander Petrov, 46, and Ruslan Boshirov, 47, had brought the Nina Ricci bottle containing the novichok to Salisbury from Moscow.
The officers came to London on 2 March with a third agent, known as Sergey Fedotov, to kill Mr Skripal – a former Russian spy who worked as a double agent for the UK.
In its report, the inquiry said Petrov and Boshirov had likely used this same bottle to apply the nerve agent to Mr Skripal’s door before it was “carelessly discarded”.
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Charlie Rowley, 52, found the bottle and gave it to Ms Sturgess, 44, who sprayed herself with its contents on 30 June 2018, and died just over a week later.
Mr Skripal, 74, his daughter Yulia, 41, and Mr Rowley, 52, all survived, but were left seriously ill.
Ambassador Kelin said the report had been timed to upset delicate peace talks over Ukraine.
He said: “By this I think the British government would like to derail talks that are very interesting and in a high stage.”
The ambassador said he was personally worried about the possibility of a wider conflict erupting from the war in Ukraine.
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Asked if there was a greater chance now of war between Europe and Russia than he had seen in his career, he answered there was.
“Yes, of course, listening to all these statements, about the need to prepare for the war, like our president has said, recently, two days ago that, we do not want to wage a war against Europe.
“But if Europe would like to wage a war against Russia, then we are prepared. Right now.”
