PRESS RELEASES AND NEWS
11.07.2018
Embassy Press Officer’s reply to a media question concerning the activity of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton DownQuestion: As early as in April the Russian Embassy requested assistance of the British side in arranging a meeting with Chief Executive of the Porton Down Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Gary Aitkenhead and his colleagues. Have you managed to ascertain whether this secret lab had produced A-234 type agents that were allegedly used against the Skripals?
Answer: Sadly, the FCO has ignored our query, which brings us to the conclusion that the British authorities wish to prevent us from communicating with experts who might have some information that is inconvenient for the Conservative government. In his interview to Sky News in April, Mr Aitkenhead himself did not deny the fact that his laboratory had produced and stockpiled nerve agents, including the so-called “novichok”. He added that they “would not be allowed to operate if we had lack of control that could result in anything leaving the four walls of our facility”.
The fact that the DSTL does have something that might “leave the four walls of the facility” is well-known. The lab has been developing and researching military-grade poisons since the First World War, and is located near Salisbury and Amesbury where both incidents have taken place. The fact that the British experts have been able to identify the poison type in no time and provided advice to the doctors who treated the victims, means that Porton Down has indeed researched and stockpiled such a chemical agent and the respective antidotes. As you might recall, Boris Johnson, the then Foreign Secretary, hinted at this fact in his interview to Deutche Welle in March.
The fact that this facility possesses such type of toxic agents and that the two incidents have happened as close as 6 miles from it, makes all allegations by the British government and the media that Russian responsibility is the only plausible explanation to the Skripals’ poisoning, ridiculous.
We intend to demand that the British authorities reveal their existing chemical weapons programme, including development of “novichok” – a new type of nerve agents researched in the West. Publication of such information would serve the interests of all those who wish to establish the truth in the Salisbury case.
LATEST EVENTS
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