UK sanctions Russian scientists linked to Salisbury poisonings and Alexei Navalny killing
The UK has sanctioned several scientists and labs linked to the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and the Novichok nerve agent used in the 2018 Salisbury assassination plot.
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Seven individuals and two scientific institutes involved in Russia’s lethal chemical weapons programme have been hit with santions.
They are said to be behind the development of the Novichok nerve agent used in the Salisbury attack which claimed the life of mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, and a Epibatidine toxin used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Ms Sturgess, 44, died after coming into contact with the poison which was used in an attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Mr Navalny, 47, was found dead in his cell at a remote Arctic penal colony two years ago.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons is a sickening violation of international law and a direct threat to global security.
“From the use of Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to Epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine.
“We will continue to call out Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, hold those responsible to account, and work with allies to deter further use of these dangerous weapons.”
The sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, apply to seven individuals and two research institutes.
The measures will target: SC Signal, a Russian state scientific research institute and GNIII VM, the state scientific research and testing institute for military medicine.
The scientists hit by sanctions include Andrei Antokhin and Viktor Taranchenko who conducted research on Novichok nerve agents and Vladimir Kondratyev who co-authored a paper on the toxic qualities of Epibatidine.
The others added to the sanctions list were: SC Signal’s director Artur Zhirov, GNIII VM chief Sergei Chepur, the chief scientist at SC Signal Alexsandr Makhlay and head of SC Signal’s fourth scientific research department Ivan Kravstov.
It comes ahead of a NATO Summit in Ankara this week and marks the latest step in the UK’s efforts to expose and deter Russia’s illegal chemical weapons activity.
In February, the UK and its partners united at the Munich Security Conference to confirm the circumstances around the death of Mr Navalny in Russian custody.
The UK Government, alongside European allies, said it was "confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin."
But Russia hit back at claims the opposition leader was killed by poison developed from a dart frog toxin.
The Kremlin described the allegations as "a disinformation campaign by the West," hours after the UK and its allies pinned the blame on the Russian state following analysis of material samples found on his body.
Ms Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the chemical weapon known as Novichok, which was left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.
A four-year-long inquiry, which cost £8.3 million in taxpayers’ money, found the Novichok poison was so toxic that nothing could have been done to save her.
Her death followed the attempted murder of former spy Mr Skripal, his daughter and then-police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.
They were harmed when members of a Russian GRU military intelligence squad smeared the nerve agent on Mr Skripal’s door handle.
Alexander Petrov, 46, and Ruslan Boshirov, 47, are believed to have travelled to Salisbury together to carry out the attack, aided by a third agent, Sergey Fedotov, an alias for GRU officer Denis Sergeev.
Petrov’s real identity was believed to be Alexander Mishkin, who was a doctor for the GRU.
Boshirov’s was believed to be Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga.