Vladimir Putin ordered Skripal novichok poisonings in show of ‘Russian power’, Dawn Sturgess inquiry finds
Vladimir Putin ordered the “astonishingly reckless” attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal as a “public demonstration of Russian power”, a major inquiry into the Salisbury novichok poisonings has concluded.
The inquiry laid the blame for the attack on the Russian president, saying he was “morally responsible” for the death of Dawn Sturgess, an innocent bystander who died after being exposed to the chemical weapon after it was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
Her death came four months after the attempted murder of Mr Skripal, a former spy, along with his daughter, Yulia, and a police officer, Nick Bailey, who were all harmed when members of a Russian GRU military intelligence squad smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s door handle.
Retired Supreme Court judge Anthony Hughes, who carried out the review into Sturgess’s death, found that the attempted assassination of Mr Skripal “must have been authorised at the highest level, by President Putin”, and that the GRU agents were “acting on instructions” when they carried out the attack.
He said: “It is clear that this attack showed considerable determination and was expected to stand as a public demonstration of Russian power.”
After the report was released, foreign secretary Yvette Cooper warned that Putin and his agents represent “an active threat to Britain’s citizens, our security and our prosperity”.
In a statement, she said: “We will not tolerate this brazen and despicable aggression on British soil. That is why we are exposing and sanctioning those carrying out malign acts for Moscow, and ramping up efforts to crush hostile Russian hybrid activity.”
The GRU has now been sanctioned in its entirety by the UK government – with action also taken against 11 people linked to state-sponsored hostile activity – while the Russian ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office.
The report’s publication comes as hopes fade for a US-brokered peace deal in Ukraine, the illegal invasion of which was launched four years after the novichok attacks.
Former prime minister Theresa May said the report shows that Britain is under “constant threat from Russian espionage”, adding that the government must “continue to stand firm in the face of Russian aggression”.
She said: “I always believed that the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter was part of a more aggressive positioning by Russia that would have consequences further down the line. Four years later, Putin invaded Ukraine, and we are under constant threat from Russian espionage.
“The Russians released a chemical weapon onto the streets of the UK, recklessly endangering lives and murdering Dawn Sturgess. The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry report shows it is vital that we continue to stand firm in the face of Russian aggression.”
The report concluded that the attempted assassination of Mr Skripal was not “designed simply as revenge against him, but amounted to a public statement … that Russia will act decisively in what it regards as its own interests”.
It also argued that the Kremlin would have accepted that the “astonishingly reckless” attack would be attributed to Russia.
