Theresa May’s widely-praised handling of the Salisbury poisoning hit a bump in the road this afternoon with the news that British scientists at Porton Down have not been able to establish that the Novichok nerve agent used to poison Sergei and Yulia Skripal was made in Russia.
In a clumsy interview, Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at the facility in Wiltshire, said although the nerve agent was identified as Novichok, scientists had not been able to prove it was created in Russia. The government were quick to go into damage control mode – making clear that this was ‘only one part of the intelligence picture’ and it did not alter their verdict that the only plausible explanation was that Russia was responsible for the attack. A government spokesperson said:
‘This is only one part of the intelligence picture. As the Prime Minister has set out in a number of statements to the Commons since 12 March, this includes our knowledge that within the last decade, Russia has investigated ways of delivering nerve agents probably for assassination – and as part of this programme has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks; Russia’s record of conducting state-sponsored assassinations; and our assessment that Russia views former intelligence officers as targets.’
Since then, the official Porton Down scientists’ Twitter account has been making clear that the chemical identity of the nerve agent is only ‘one of four factors’ used by the government to attribute its use to Russia. However, the original comments are bound to be seized on by Russia, which has insisted it was not behind the attack and sufficient proof has not been found.
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