Salisbury poisoning - live updates: UN Security Council to meet after Theresa May names Russian state assassins as poisoning suspects

British officials faced their Russian counterparts at the UN Security Council's special meeting to discuss the Salisbury novichok attack.

The meeting was called by the UK after Theresa May said the two men charged with carrying out the assassination attempt were Russian spies.

While the prime minister said the attack was approved at “a senior level of the Russian state", senior Conservatives directly accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of approving the operation.

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Accusation of state involvement in Salisbury 'unacceptable' — Kremlin

Speaking in the Commons, Ms May told MPs the attack was carried out by two Russian spies and sanctioned at a “senior level” by Vladimir Putin’s regime.

She said investigations had concluded that the two suspects were members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, and it was not a “rogue operation”.

Ms May told MPs the UK would push for new sanctions against Russians responsible for cyber attacks, additional listings under the existing regime and promised to work with intelligence allies to “counter the threat posed by the GRU”.

The US, France, and Germany, and Canada have also agreed with the UK the Russian government "almost certainly" gave the green light on the novichok attack. 

"We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level," the joint statement read. 

During the meeting UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce and Russia's Permanent Representative to the world body Vasily Nebenzya traded diplomatic barbs, with US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley joining in with her characteristically bold language. 

Ms Pierce said UK police have been conducting a "painstaking and forensic investigation," having gone "through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage" and conducted approximately 14,000 interviews to come to their conclusion about the suspects. 

She indicated CCTV footage showed the two suspects in the vicinity of Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury around the time of the 4 March attack and it was determined the suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were part of Russian military intelligence, a unit called the GRU. 

"The GRU has time and again" interfered in other countries' affairs, Ms Pierce said. She pointed to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails during the 2016 US presidential election as one example. 

"They played dice with the lives of the people of Salisbury," she noted. 

"The UK has no quarrel with the Russian people, we continue to hold out hope we will have" strong relations with the government, Ms Pierce said. 

Again, she used the words "brazen" and "reckless" to describe the suspected actions of the Russian suspects and the Kremlin. Several other countries joined in her sentiments. 

Mr Nebenzya retorted, accusing Downing Street of "Russophobia" and claimed the accusation Moscow was not cooperating with London was false. 

"It's still not clear why Russia would want to poison the Skripals...and do it in such a strange, sophisticated way," he said, repeatedly questioning various issues with the investigation's conclusions about the suspects, their nationality, and their supposed affiliation with GRU. 

He also slammed Ms May for assigning blame for the attack to Russia even before all the recent evidence about the suspects came to light, adding that "Downing Street is governed not by the interest of justice, but by other means and motives". Ms Haley chimed in: "Our British friends are staging a master class" on how to stop the use of chemical weapons.

"It is actually amazing to see the...clarity" of the UK poilice investigation results, Ms Haley commented, adding the evidence could not be denied. 

"Every one of us should be chilled to the bone" with the results of the investigation. 

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11:58

Hello and welcome to the latest updates on the novichok attack in Salisbury.

 

Britain plans to press its case against Russia at the UN Security Council later on Thursday, after Theresa May accused Moscow agents of being behind the deadly poisoning.

 

Police and prosecutors announced they had enough evidence to charge the men, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, over the assassination attempt in March.

12:07

Here is an article from our home affairs correspondent, Lizzie Dearden, on the two men charged with carrying out the Salisbury attack.

Two Russian citizens named as novichok nerve agent attack suspects

'Clearly this was assassination attempt carried out by people involved in this tradecraft,' says counterterror chief

12:27

Theresa May said the two men charged with carrying out the attack were Russian spies. She also said their assassination attempt was approved at "a senior level of the Russian state". For more details: 

Salisbury attack suspects are Russian security service officers, Theresa May tells MPs

Prime minister says wanted Russian men were spies - but declines to say that Vladimir Putin himself sent them

12:42

The poisoning ignited a diplomatic confrontation in which hundreds of envoys were expelled by both Russia and Western nations.

 

But there is limited appetite among Britain's European allies for further sanctions against Moscow. 

13:07

The EU is taking "decisive steps" to increase its capacity to deal with the chemical weapons threat, its foreign affairs spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, said.

She told reporters in Brussels that March's European Council meeting after the initial attack had confirmed "that we stand with the UK in pursuit of justice in this case and remain ready to offer support".

 

She added: "We believe that the use of chemical weapons, including the use of toxic chemicals as weapons, under any circumstances is completely unacceptable and is a security threat to us all.

 

"In this context at the EU level we are taking decisive steps to bolster our capacity to counter these threats."

13:23

Britain's security minister, Ben Wallace told BBC Radio 4's Today programme Vladimir Putin has ultimate responsibility for the actions of his spies in carrying out the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

He said: "Ultimately he does, insofar as he is president of the Russian Federation and it is his government that controls, funds and directs the military intelligence - that's the GRU - via his minister of defence."

 

Mr Wallace added: "I don't think that anyone can ever say that Mr Putin isn't in control of his state," and the president was surrounded by serving and former intelligence officers.

 

"The GRU is, without doubt, not rogue, it is led, linked to both the senior members of the Russian general staff and the defence minister and, through that, into the Kremlin and the president's office," Mr Wallace said.

 

Mr Wallace told Today the UK would "use whatever means we have within the law and our capabilities" to "push back the Russian malign activity".

Asked whether there would be retaliation for Russia's activities, particularly in cyber space, Mr Wallace said: "We do all the time, but we retaliate in our way.

 

"We are not the Russians, we don't adopt the sort of thuggish, destructive and aggressive behaviour that we have seen.

 

"We choose to challenge the Russians in both the overt and the covert space, within the rule of law and in a sophisticated way."

13:41

The Kremlin has said Russia is not investigating the two suspects.

 

Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Theresa May's accusations are "unacceptable" and that "no-one in the Russian leadership" has anything to do with the poisoning.

He said Russia "has no reasons" to investigate Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov because Britain has not asked for legal assistance on the case.

14:51

In a few hours, the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting at the request of the UK, one of its permanent members, along with allies France and the US. 

 

The Council will discuss the two Russians suspected of being involved in the attack in Salisbury on 4 March 2018 during which a former Russian spy Sergei Skirpal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent known as novichok. 

 

Three months after the attack, Dawn Sturgess, who lived in a city nearby and had no ties to Russia, died from exposure to the nerve agent. 

 

In the wake of the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May was swift and unwavering in her statements, calling it a "brazen" violation of international law and blaming Moscow 

 

The attack had left the town of Salisbury a "ghost town" as The Independent previously reported.

Theresa May travelling to Salisbury as nerve agent attack investigation continues

15:03

What followed the attack were months of back-and-forth between leaders in London, Moscow, Washington, and several other world leaders weighing in on the controversy. 

 

While Donald Trump had not been as quick as Ms May and even US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley in assigning blame to the Russians, the US did impose a fresh round of sanctions on Moscow for its alleged role in the attack. 

 

US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said it had been determined Russia had “used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law, or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals.”

 

Downing Street and the Foreign Office both welcomed the move. “The UK welcomes this further action by our US allies. The strong international response to the use of a chemical weapon on the streets of Salisbury sends an unequivocal message to Russia that its provocative, reckless behaviour will not go unchallenged,” a spokesman said.

15:12

The US sanctions are important not only because of the increasingly tense relationship between the two countries but because a senior State Department official had indicated a second batch of “more draconian” sanctions awaited Moscow should it not allow on-site inspections by the United Nations. 

 

 

15:27

There was also the debate at the watchdog group, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

 

A UK-led vote on 27 June to allow the OPCW to go beyond just determining if a banned chemical weapon was used and actually assign blame for an attack to a specific party, passed by 82-24.

 

It opened the door for the world body to identify Russia as the possible guilty party in the Salisbury attack.  

 

Moscow’s Industry Minister Georgy Kalamonov mused the vote undermined the power of the UN Security Council, saying that body is the only one where matters of apportioning blame should be discussed. 

 

Russia calls chemical weapons watchdog group the 'Titanic’ after powers expanded to assign blame for illegal attacks

15:51

The diplomatic animosity only seemed to grow after Dawn Sturgess's death. 

 

The mother-of-three had fallen ill on 30 June and passed away at Salisbury District Hospital. Her death is being investigated as murder.

 

Her partner Chris Rowley, who was also exposed to the novichok, was released from hospital in late-July. Police believe the couple accidentally found a bottle containing novichok. 

 

Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had said at the time, the UK had “grossly manipulated” the OPCW and that decontamination efforts looked like "consistent physical extermination of the evidence"

 

16:20

The recent revelation is that two Russian nationals - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - are suspected of being responsible for the March poisoning. 

 

Investigators, who had been monitoring CCTV footage from outside the Skirpals' home, said those are likely not the pair's real names.

 

Ms May addressed Parliament yesterday and accused the suspects of being part of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service. 

 

"The GRU is a highly-disciplined organisation with a well-established chain of command. So this was not a rogue operation. It was almost certainly also approved outside the GRU at a senior level of the Russian state," Ms May claimed.

 

 

16:28

Here's a timeline of the suspects' movements via CCTV footage gathered by investigators. 

 

Timeline of movements by Russian 'spies' charged with attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal

Police appealing for information on suspects and their movements over two days in the UK

16:31

The US, France, and Germany, and Canada have also just agreed with the UK the Russian government "almost certainly" gave the green light on the novichok attack. 

 

"We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level," the statement read. 

They also said: "Yesterday's announcement further strengthens our intent to continue to disrupt together the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories, uphold the prohibition of chemical weapons, protect our citizens and defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies." 

Russia has continued its denial of any involvement in the incident and have thus far refused to disclose information on its development programme for the military-grade nerve agent.  

16:41

Anjali Dayal, an international security professor at Fordham University and frequent UN Security Council watcher, told The Independent the UK's request for an emergency meeting comes at a "fractious" time for diplomacy in the group. 

 

The US has the rotating presidency this month and Ms Dayal pointed out it was difficult for countries to agree on a programme for the month, in part because of Mr Trump's visit later in the month to speak about Iran. 

 

She also explained UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce and her US counterpart Ms Haley "are likely to see eye-to-eye on today's meeting". 

 

Ms Haley has been "unequivocal in condemnation of Russia and support of the UK" the last time the Salisbury issue came up in March, Ms Dayal said. 

16:45

Ms Pierce is now addressing the UN Security Council. She said UK police have been conducting a "painstaking and forensic investigation," having gone "through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage" and conducted approximately 14,000 interviews to come to their conclusion about the suspects. 

 

She indicated CCTV footage showed the two suspects in the vicinity of Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury around the time of the 4 March attack. 

 

 

16:48

Ms Pierce said even Moscow has commented former Russian agents, like Mr Skripal, are "fair game for assassination". 

 

"These two individuals are no longer in the United Kingdom...were they, these two individuals" would be subject to arrest for violations of UK law. 

 

Russia does not extradite citizens, a provision of their Constitution. The UK is issuing an Interpol alert and the UK plans to capture them should they travel outside of Russia, Ms Pierce said. 

16:51

"The GRU has time and again" interfered in other countries' affairs, Ms Pierce said. She pointed to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails during the 2016 US presidential election as one example. 

 

"They played dice with the lives of the people of Salisbury," she noted. 

 

Ms Pierce called the GRU, "a body of the Russian state" and said their operations as part of an "inverted" system of international law, out of the norms of the rest of the world. 

16:53

"The UK has no quarrel with the Russian people, we continue to hold out hope we will have" strong relations with the government, Ms Pierce said. 

 

Again, she used the words "brazen" and "reckless" to describe the suspected actions of the Russian suspects and the Kremlin. 

 

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