Eye Spy - May 2018

EYE SPY INTELLIGENCE MAGAZINE 115 2018 11

Europe since the Second World War,” adding

that Russia’s actions “threaten the security of

us all.”

At the United Nations, US Ambassador Nikki

Haley called for immediate action: “If we don’t

take immediate concrete measures to address

this now, Salisbury will not be the last place

we see chemical weapons used. They could

be used here in New York, or in cities of any

country that sits on this council. This is a

defining moment.”

THE PUBLIC RUSSIAN RESPONSE

Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian Ambassa-

dor in London tweeted: ‘The temperature of

Russia-U.K. relations drops to minus 23, but

we are not afraid of cold weather’.

Russia responded in kind by initially expelling

23 British diplomats and ordering the closure

of the British Council in Russia as well as

ending an agreement to reopen the British

Consulate in St Petersburg. A statement was

then routed to news agencies: ‘If Britain

makes any more unfriendly moves the

government could take further measures...

don’t threaten a nuclear country’. By mid-

April, the number of British diplomats ordered

to leave had risen to 54.

Russia continues to deny involvement; its

politicians have contradicted each other, with

some claiming that Novichok stockpiles were

destroyed and others claiming that it was

never developed in the first place.

Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s EU Ambassador,

said: “Russia had nothing to do with the

Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s European

Union Ambassador

poisoning in Salisbury of Sergei Skripal and

his daughter Yulia. When you have a nerve

agent or whatever, you check it against certain

samples that you retain in your laboratories.

And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the

largest military facility in the United Kingdom

that has been dealing with chemical weapons

research. And it’s actually only eight miles

from Salisbury.”

The Russian Embassy in the UK then posted a

tweet showing an image of fictional Agatha

Christie detective Hercule Poirot saying: ‘In

absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot

in Salisbury!’.

British Prime Minister Theresa May outside The Mill public house - one of the locations visited by the Skripals

©

CROWN COPYRIGHT

Defence Chemical, Biological,

Radiological and Nuclear Centre

(CBRN), some four miles from

Salisbury. A number of the

‘substance’ search teams came

from this facility

Much attention was paid to Sergei

Skripal’s vehicle