File photo: Police officers stand on duty outside Sergei Skripal's home in Salisbury, Britain
The U.S. will impose sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of a Russian agent and his daughter on UK soil, the State Department announced Wednesday.
Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned by a nerve agent in March in the southern English city of Salisbury. The British government has blamed the incident on Russia, linking the nerve agent to a series of Russia-developed chemical weapons collectively known as Novichok.
A man who was poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok has been released from hospital after being exposed to the substance earlier this month, a hospital official said Friday.Charlie Rowley, 45, whose partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after exposure to the same substance 12 days ago, poses no contamination risk to the community.“Both Dawn and Charlie had been poisoned by a powerful nerve agent. As part of the care we gave to Charlie, and the other victims of this nerve agent, we decontaminated them,” Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing at Salisbury District Hospital, told the Guardian newspaper.“We did this both to help them get better and ensure there would be no remaining contamination that could affect them or anyone who came into contact with them,” she added.“We continue to work closely with Public Health England who have advised that Charlie poses no risk to the community”.Rowley, however, will remain under police protection as detectives continue their investigation into how the couple came into contact with the nerve agent.Rowley’s account of how he and Sturgess came into contact with the substance while at his home in Amesbury, Wiltshire will prove vital for detectives working on the case and may even provide evidence that could shed light on the Novichok attack on former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March, which is still under investigation. Rowley and Sturgess were hospitalized after being exposed to the deadly nerve agent on June 30. Police found a bottle containing the nerve agent at the scene. Sturgess succumbed to the poisoning and passed away just over a week ago.
Novichok poisoning victim released from UK hospital
The Kremlin has denied responsibility.
The Skripals have since recovered from the alleged assassination attempt.
In announcing the forthcoming penalties, the State Department said it determined that Moscow "used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals".
UK investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators behind the Novichok nerve agent attack on the Skripals, the Press Association reported on Thursday.Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were struck down with the poison in March. The Skripals subsequently recovered.British police officers suspect several Russians were involved in the attempted murder of the Skripals and are looking for more than one suspect, the Press Association reported http://bit.ly/2L3QZGB.Investigators have identified the suspected perpetrators through CCTV and have cross-checked the footage with records of people who entered the country around that time, it said.In recent weeks, British counter-terrorism police have also been investigating the murder of a woman who died on July 8, just over a week after being exposed to Novichok near the city of Salisbury.
Skripal Novichok poisoning suspects identified
A man who was poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok has been released from hospital after being exposed to the substance earlier this month, a hospital official said Friday.Charlie Rowley, 45, whose partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after exposure to the same substance 12 days ago, poses no contamination risk to the community.“Both Dawn and Charlie had been poisoned by a powerful nerve agent. As part of the care we gave to Charlie, and the other victims of this nerve agent, we decontaminated them,” Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing at Salisbury District Hospital, told the Guardian newspaper.“We did this both to help them get better and ensure there would be no remaining contamination that could affect them or anyone who came into contact with them,” she added.“We continue to work closely with Public Health England who have advised that Charlie poses no risk to the community”.Rowley, however, will remain under police protection as detectives continue their investigation into how the couple came into contact with the nerve agent.Rowley’s account of how he and Sturgess came into contact with the substance while at his home in Amesbury, Wiltshire will prove vital for detectives working on the case and may even provide evidence that could shed light on the Novichok attack on former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March, which is still under investigation. Rowley and Sturgess were hospitalized after being exposed to the deadly nerve agent on June 30. Police found a bottle containing the nerve agent at the scene. Sturgess succumbed to the poisoning and passed away just over a week ago. Novichok poisoning victim released from UK hospital
The department cited the decades-old Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act, which was passed in 1991.
The sanctions are expected to take effect on or around Aug. 22 following a congressional notification period.
U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday called for an action against aggressions made by Russia.In a statement to parliament regarding a recent NATO summit, May stressed the Alliance's collective responsibility in combating Russian aggression, whether it be through military incursions, assassinations through chemical poisoning or cyberwarfare.US lawmakers slam Trump as 'weak' in Russia summit“The appalling use of a nerve agent in Salisbury is another example of Russia’s growing disregard for the global norms and laws that keep us all safe,” she said.“We will struggle against Russia as long as it insists on its efforts to weaken our interests and values.”The U.K.’s relationship with Russia has reached new lows after London accused Moscow of being behind the chemical attack in Salisbury that targeted former Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, with the chemical agent Novichok in March this year.Trump, Putin hail progress in mending strained tiesEarlier this month in Amesbury, a town seven miles from Salisbury, a couple were poisoned by the same chemical agent. One of them, Dawn Sturgess later passed away.On March 4, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were admitted to hospital after being found unconscious in Salisbury.NATO and the EU supported the U.K. and condemned the attack.Sergei and Yulia Skripal have since been discharged from Salisbury District Hospital.
UK premier calls for action against Russian aggression
A senior State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity that the Kremlin had been notified of the action. The sanctions deny export licenses for any goods with national security implications, the official said. Items for the safety of commercial passenger aviation will be exempted, as will space flight activities and commercial space launches.
Those behind nerve agent poisonings in England have not been identified and police cannot guarantee there are no more traces of Novichok still in England, Britain's top counter-terrorism policeman said on Wednesday.Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury in March, and two Britons fell ill this month after exposure to the same nerve agent. One those, Dawn Sturgess, has died, while the other is critical but conscious."I would love to be able to stand here and say how we have identified and caught those responsible and how we are absolutely certain there are no traces of nerve agent left anywhere in the county," Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said in a statement."The brutal reality, however, is that I cannot offer you any such assurances or guarantees at this time."He added that it may never be possible to definitively establish a link between the death of Sturgess and the poisoning of the Skripals. UK police say unclear if latest Novichok poisoning linked to attack on SkripalsUK woman dies after poisoning by Soviet-era nerve agent
No guarantees on nerve agent culprits or finding more Novichok: UK police
If Russia does not meet certain criteria the act specifies within 90 days, a second tranche of "more draconian" sanctions will take effect, the official said.
"Hopefully we will not get to that point, but that’s really a question for Russia than for us," the official said.
Among the penalties Russia could face in the second round are the suspension of its flagship carrier Aeroflot’s ability to fly to and out of the U.S., a downgrade in bilateral ties and the effective cutting off of all imports and exports.
The act had only been enforced twice before -- once on Syria in 2013 and a second time on North Korea following the VX nerve gas assassination of one of leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brothers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2017.
In the UK, at least two other people were hospitalized after suffering from exposure to Novichok in a town near Salisbury.
Charlie Rowley, 45, was released from a hospital last month, but his partner, Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after exposure.
Rowley and Sturgess were hospitalized after being exposed to the deadly nerve agent on June 30. Police found a bottle containing the substance at the scene. Sturgess succumbed to the poisoning and died in hospital.