The final report of a British public inquiry into a deadly 2018 Novichok attack in Salisbury found “overwhelming evidence” the nerve agent was brought to the city by Russian military intelligence officers Alexander Petrov (R) and Ruslan Boshirov (L). File Photo by London Metropolitan Police/EPA-EFE
A British inquiry into the killing of a woman in a botched Russian nerve agent attack in Salisbury in July 2018 determined Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “morally responsible.”
The report of the inquiry found that 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three, stood no chance from the moment she sprayed herself with what she believed was perfume but was actually the deadly nerve agent Novichok in a bottle discarded by two Russian intelligence officers.
Inquiry head Anthony Hughes concluded Sturgess’ condition was “unsurvivable from a very early stage,” and that he was certain “no medical treatment could in fact have saved her life,” despite the fact police initially treated the incident as drug-related.
Hughes said Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov had traveled to Salisbury to attempt to assassinate double agent Sergei Skripal by smearing Novichok on the handle of his front door and “recklessly discarded this bottle in some public or semi-public place,” before leaving the city.
The report found that everyone involved, including Putin, who was said to have authorized the attack “at the highest level,” was “morally responsible” for Sturgess’ death.
Hughes said the attack was carried out as a demonstration of Russian power calculated to make its mark both internationally and domestically [inside Russia].
Skripal and his daughter Yulia fell seriously ill after coming into contact with the Novichok but survived. A police officer responding to the incident also suffered serious injuries.
Hughes said he was sure Pertrov and Boshirov subsequently discarded the bottle containing Novichok in a park in an “astonishingly reckless act.”
The pair have strenuously denied any involvement — insisting they went to Salisbury as tourists — as has Moscow.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said it was a “grave reminder of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent lives,” while the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office to explain what it said was “Russia’s ongoing campaign of hostile activity against the United Kingdom.”
“We will not tolerate this brazen and despicable aggression on British soil,” Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said as she announced Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, was being sanctioned “in its entirety.”
Theresa May, who was prime minister at the time of the attack, said the manner in which the Russian agents had casually tossed such a deadly chemical weapon in a public place showed “they were there to do a job and didn’t care who or how many people they hurt.”
