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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Francois Delattre, the French Ambassador to the UN, expressed "solidarity" with the UK in his statement to the Council.
Speaking in French, he indicated "everything confirms" Russia's responsibility for the attack, including the OPCW and UK police investigations.
"These actions put in danger of many civilians...trample all the principles of mutual cooperation and respect," he said.
Ms Dayal had told The Independent the issue of Russia's suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria would also be connected to today's meeting.
There is another, separate meeting today in the Council on that topic but Mr Delattre and other ambassadors have cited Russia's repeated vetos on resolutions calling for sanctions and investigations into the use of these weapons in Douma and Idlib, Syria, as a sign of the Kremlin's guilt in the Salisbury attack.
Ms Dayal noted Ms Haley "said the very credibility of the Council was at stake if it failed to hold Russia accountable for an attack on the sovereign soil of another [permanent] member [of the Council]. She's also been very consistent and vocal in tying Russia to what she calls a real, concerning increase in chemical weapons attacks".
In another sign of support for the UK, the Deputy Permanent Representative from the Netherlands Lise Gregoire-van Haaren also used the word "reckless" to describe the Salisbury attack.
The Netherlands was also swift in its condemnation of Russia for the attack, a move supported by evidence from the investigation, Ms Gregoire-van Haaren said.
All the countries giving statements have expressed condolences for the death of Dawn Sturgess from exposure to the nerve agent novichok, months after the Salisbury attack.
Kazakhstan's UN Ambassador Kairat Umarov broke from the previous countries' statements, appearing to side with neutral parties.
In a charged month for the Council, statements like this could be taken as siding with Russia. Mr Umarov said it is "difficult to...make a fair and objective assessment" of the UK police's investigation.
He warned "decisions should not arrive in haste" and urged the Security Council "remain consistent" in keeping peace and security around the globe.
Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya addressed the Council.
He said the Council keeps hearing the "repeated lies" of the UK about the Salisbury investigation.
"I'm not going to go through the whole list of unfounded and mendacious facts," he said, through an interpreter.
Mr Nebenzya said the assertion the two suspects are Russian nationals is "unfounded".
He noted Ms May's government would not even cooperate with Russian authorities.
"Everything is exactly the opposite...We have been calling London to cooperate. London has been refusing us this cooperation," he noted.
He pointed to supposed holes in the UK police investigation. Mr Nebenzya said CCTV footage shows the suspects near the Skripal home around noon the day of the attack, but in earlier reports the UK police had indicated the Skripals had left their home earlier that morning.
He asked how they could have come in contact with the novichok, reportedly used on their home's door handle, if that was the case.
He accused the UK of taking a "comfortable position".
Mr Nebenzya said it was confusing to hear the UK police did not have the real names of the suspects but somehow know for a fact the pair are part of Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU.
He invoked the "post-truth world...of fake news" as part of the problem in the UK's accusations.
Mr Nebenzya accused Downing Street of "Russophobia".
"It's still not clear why Russia would want to poison the Skripals...and do it in such a strange, sophisticated way," he said.
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