Salisbury poisoning - live updates: UN Security Council to meet after Theresa May names Russian state assassins as poisoning suspects
PM says attack was approved at 'senior level of Russian state'
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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.
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.
"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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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.
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"
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.
Here's a timeline of the suspects' movements via CCTV footage gathered by investigators.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
"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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