II. The Skripal case: Assassination attempt in the United Kingdom using a toxic chemical

Chapter:

8. Chemical and biological security threats

Source:

SIPRI Yearbook 2019

Author(s):

Caitríona McLeish, Filippa Lentzos

On 4 March 2018, three people—Sergey Skripal, his daughter Yulia and Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, a Wiltshire police officer—were exposed to a toxic chemical (acetylcholinesterase inhibitor) in Salisbury, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. Two others, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, were exposed to the same toxic chemical in nearby Amesbury on 30 June. While the Skripals, Bailey and Rowley recovered from their exposure to the poison, Sturgess did not and she died on 8 July. Samples from the victims of the 4 March attack were tested at the UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down. Three days after the attack, the Metropolitan Police Service’s Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations, Mark Rowley, announced that forensic analysis had revealed the presence of a nerve agent.¹ On 12 March the British Prime Minister, Theresa May, told parliament that the nerve agent used was a member of the novichok family and detailed the British Government’s view that Russia was culpable for the attack.²