Russia envoy suggests UK lab as spy-poison source

Bloomberg

Russia’s ambassador to the European Union suggested the nerve agent used to poison a former spy and his daughter may have come from a research lab in the UK and rejected accusations it was made in Russia, according to an interview to be broadcast by the BBC.
Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov said in searching for the poison’s source, investigators need to check it against samples retained in laboratories worldwide.
He said Porton Down, a UK military facility, has been conducting research on chemical weapons 8 miles from Salisbury, where the incident occurred. In the interview, for the “Andrew Marr Show,” he said he didn’t have “evidence of anything being used” from Porton Down.
The UK foreign office dismissed Chizhov’s comments as “nonsense,” and said Russia was trying to “divert the story away from the facts — that Russia has acted in flagrant breach of its international obligations,” according to the BBC.
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said that it was “overwhelmingly likely” Russian President Vladimir Putin personally ordered the operation in the city of Salisbury on March 4 against former Kremlin double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, who remain in critical condition.