UK Defense Secretary says Russia to blame for 'Novichok deaths,' still no proof to back up claims

RT
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 12:10 UTC

© Simon Dawson

Britain's Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson.

Gavin Williamson is at it again - pointing the finger at Russia without any evidence. This time the UK Defence Secretary is accusing Moscow of being culpable for the death of a British citizen before the probe has concluded.

It is the first time that Williamson, or any UK official, has linked the Kremlin to the death of the 44-year-old woman who was poisoned by what some have alleged is the same A-234 nerve agent used to attack the Skripals.

The Defence Secretary, however, did not explicitly say if he was referring to the attack on the Skripals, the Amesbury poisoning, or both. Williamson was asked in Commons about the threat posed to the British people following Dawn Sturgess' death.

"The simple reality is that Russia has committed an attack on British soil which has seen the death of a British citizen," he replied. "That is something that I think the world will unite with us in actually condemning."

Police believe that Sturgess and her partner Charlie Rowley handled an item contaminated by the Novichok-type poison. The Amesbury couple live only a few miles from where ex-Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were attacked in March.

Police say they are still following the line of inquiry that the Novichok apparently used in both incidents was from the same batch, but they have admitted that they have no evidence to support this.

"As I've said before, there is no evidence that either Dawn or Charlie visited any of the sites that were decontaminated following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal," Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu said on Monday.

"The investigation must be led by the evidence available and the facts alone. Our focus and priority at this time is to identify and locate any container that we believe may be the source of the contamination," he added.

According to Basu, 21 other people screened for Novichok exposure have been given the all-clear. Moscow has vehemently and repeatedly denied being behind the attack in Salisbury, despite global sanctions being imposed on Russia.

Comment: Russia's Embassy in London has responded to Williamson's accusation by calling for an actual investigation. RT reports:

"We hope that the circumstances of her poisoning will be investigated in good faith and in accordance with high international standards, and the perpetrators will be brought to justice," the embassy said in a statement on Monday.

The UK government, however, seemingly focused on baselessly blaming Russia instead of investigating, just like the Skripal family poisoning back in March. Russia has repeatedly urged London to conduct a proper and transparent investigation and dismissed baseless allegations of its involvement.

"As it stands now, the police investigation of the Skripals case is limited by political frameworks imposed by the current government. Unsubstantiated claims against Russia make it impossible to determine the real causes of the two incidents," the statement reads.

A similar call was later issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which urged the UK to stop producing "the same old mantra 'Russians did it'" and get to the real investigation instead.

"Could you perhaps come up with something new? A proper and careful investigation for instance?" the ministry said on Twitter.

Also see: NewsReal: Novi-shock! Devious Russians Tire of Spectacular World Cup, Poison Innocent Brits For Laughs