British authorities have confirmed that it is “highly likely” that the nerve agent used to kill a woman in England was from the same batch used in the assassination attempt against Russian double agent Sergei Skripal.
On June 30, police found Dawn Sturgess collapsed in a house in Amesbury, England. Later that same day, her partner, Charlie Rowley, also started experiencing symptoms and was hospitalized.
At first, police suspected a drug overdose, but they soon realized that the symptoms were caused by an “unknown substance.” This substance was later revealed to be Novichok, a Russian government-made nerve agent that had been previously used in the attempted murder of a Russian double agent in the nearby English city of Salisbury.
Sturgess, 44, died in the hospital Sunday evening. Rowley, 45, remains in critical condition.
After determining that the nerve agent involved was Novichok, authorities worked on determining whether or not it was from the same batch used on the double agent and his daughter.
On Monday, Britain's counterterrorism chief announced that investigators had determined that it was “highly likely” that this Novichok was indeed from the same batch. The assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police also revealed that Sturgess and Rowley were poisoned when they came across a container or vessel contaminated with Novichok.
However, authorities have not yet revealed what this vessel was, why and how the two came across it, or how much Novichok was present.
The Guardian reports that police had guarded a red van in the nearby town of Durrington. The van was parked not far from where Sturgess's parents lived. On Sunday night, authorities in protective gear wrapped the van in plastic and drove it away on a military truck. Durrington is about two miles from Amesbury.
In March, former Russian army Col. Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned by Novichok that had been placed on Skripal's front door in Salisbury, England. While he was in the Russian army, Skripal had fed secrets to British intelligence. He was later discovered, arrested, and exchanged in a high-profile spy swap.
British Prime Minister Theresa May demanded that the Russian government explain how a nerve agent it had developed during the Cold War had ended up on British soil. There were only two options, she argued: either the Russians had conducted the attempted assassination, or the nerve agent had fallen into the hands of a third party.
The Russian government responded by mocking May's accusations, and accusing the United Kingdom of staging the whole thing to make Russia look guilty.
Now that authorities have concluded that this latest Novichok exposure likely involved the same batch, the implication is that Russia is responsible for Sturgess's death. Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, has said that while Russia is also “deeply concerned” about what happened, any accusations against his country are “absurd.”
Residents of Amesbury, Salisbury, and nearby cities are understandably panicked. Since this is still early in the investigation, police have not released many details about how and where the two latest victims were poisoned.
Ricky Rogers, a local politician, told The Guardian that people did not know what to think.
“Did this poisoning, now sadly the tragic death, happen in Salisbury or Amesbury? Some sort of answer would provide some assurances,” he said. “There’s too much speculation. We all think there are parts of Salisbury we should avoid. The public are telling me that they don’t feel safe.”
