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'
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
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.
Follow the latest updates
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
"The Russian Federation has never developed, never produced, and never stockpiled...novichok," Mr Nebenzya said.
He also took issue with the term 'novichok' saying it was coined by those without any direct contact with the government and said it was a purely "western" term.
He also slammed Ms May for assigning blame for the attack to Russia even before all the recent evidence about the suspects came to light.
"Downing Street is governed not by the interest of justice, but by other means and motives," he claimed.
"Our British friends are staging a master class" on how to stop the use of chemical weapons, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said.
"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.
"Who is to say this [attack] could not have taken place in Paris, Amsterdam, or Addis?" she posited.
"Why doesn't the Russian government turn over these two murderers to UK authorities?," Ms Haley asked.
"You don't call an arsonist to put out a fire, especially when it is a fire they have caused," Ms Pierce retorted in her further statement to address Russia's comments about the investigation and lack of cooperation from Downing Street.
One of the highlights of the statement from Mr Nebenzya - claiming the perfume maker Nina Ricci is getting "free advertisement" from the incident. The UK claimed the novichok had been placed in a perfume bottle by the brand.
After another retort from Russia, the meeting concluded as do our live updates.
Thank you for following along today. For more coverage of the UK investigation and the global response to Russia's suspected use of chemical weapons please check here and the story below.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies