The head of Chemical and Biological Weapon Restrictive Conventions Analytical Research Center under the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Viktor Kholstov said that the chemical agent in Skripal's poisoning case has been produced in western laboratories.
"The issue of 'Novichoks' has gained widespread in a considerable number of western laboratories. It is fair to say that today there are at least 20 of such laboratories which undertake work related to 'Novichoks'," expert said. "It can be said with great certainty that the manufacture is somewhere at those laboratories," he said in an intervew with the Russian Investigative Committee.
Viktor Kholstov noted that all Russian chemical weapons stockpiles had been destroyed in full capacity, as well as every production facility had been closed down under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction which had entered into force in 1997.