Zora Šmídová posts - Czech Points

Zora Šmídová

17 hrs ago Europe

Russia Doubles Down On Czech Nerve Agent Claims

Russia Doubles Down On Czech Nerve Agent Claims - Czech Points

The allegation includes an official ministerial text, which the office, according to its own announcement today, handed over to all foreign embassies in Moscow.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday in an official statement reiterated claims that the Czech Republic was is the countries that have worked on the development of the toxic nerve agent Novichok.

The allegation includes an official ministerial text, which the office, according to its announcement today, handed over to all foreign embassies in Moscow. The full text of the document was published by Interfax.

“It is necessary to clarify why in the ‘Skripal case’ they have absolutely unjustifiably accused Russia of developing the substances under the western codename ‘Novichok’ in the United Kingdom, the US, Sweden and the Czech Republic, these countries are creating new poisonous substances of this type which have been found at more than 200 NATO sites,” the document says.

The Russian ministry denies having use the toxic nerve agent.

The attack on Sergey and Juliet Skripal, poisoned on March 4 in Salisbury is refered to in the Russian statement as a terrorist act.

They accuse London of unnecessarily attacking Russia and of not following the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Instead of respecting the agreements, the British have made political attacks and submitted it to the UN Security Council, which has no mandate to do so.

London’s actions, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, “are purely barbaric in humanitarian terms.” Russia has taken offense that UK authorities will not explain why the refuse to allow Russian consular staff access to Yulia Skripal, a has Russian citizen.

A statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry does not mention the testimony of several Russian chemists who have reportedly been working on the development of Novichok. According to information from three of them, the toxic nerve agent developed and manufactured in the secret chemical laboratories in Pavlodar from the 1970s until at least 1988.