A Russian chemical weapon expert has revealed that Russia has “never” made the deadly nerve agent used in Salisbury and it is more likely that the UK and US are to blame.
The toxic weapon Novichok , which has been revealed as the agent that put Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in intensive care, has a sharp and unpleasant odour.
Igor Nikulin, a former chemical weapons advisor to the UN secretary general, said only one conclusion can be drawn – the US and perhaps the UK are behind the attack.
He dismissed the idea that the nerve agent could have been brought into the UK by the former spy’s daughter.
Mr Nikulin said: “The version with Yulia Skripal’s suitcase is absolutely invented out of thin air.
“If someone tried to crank up such an operation, it would be the largest terrorist attack in history – hundreds of corpses.
“It would have touched everyone who was near – passengers on the plane, airport visitors.”
He added that the nerve agent Novichok “has a sharp and unpleasant odour… this substance cannot be applied without being noticed”.
It has a “specific smell” and a “yellowish colour”, the former member of the UN Biological and Chemical Weapons Commission said.
“Whoever did it, this was unskilled work, putting at risk a large number of uninvolved people,” he said.
“These are not the actions of any special services.”
He claimed America has been involved in dismantling an ex-Soviet facility in Uzbekistan where the Novichok was produced.
And claimed the agent had never been produced in Russia, as stated by Western authorities.
“The Americans… took equipment for producing the gas to US territory,” he said.
He claimed: “This means that today one can draw the conclusion that the US, and perhaps the UK, are the sole possessors of this military toxic agent.
“We know from open sources that the formula was developed in Russia, but it was never produced and tested.”
The poisoning happened a few miles from the government’s research laboratory at Porton Down , he said.
Mr Nikulin added: “Seventeen years ago in the same small town of Salisbury, where Skripal was poisoned, under mysterious circumstances, another Russian defector, biologist Vladimir Pasechnik was killed.
“The deaths of local, British scientists are taking place there with a frightening frequency.”
He did not give examples but tarred Mr Skripal with smuggling chemical weapons.
“Perhaps he needed money, and given his past in the secret services, he somehow participated in the smuggling of chemical weapons?
“This version cannot be excluded.