"I was citing the director of the Military Research Institute, who, in February, had published a report on Novichok production. I respect academic background of Parliament’s members, but I am not sure that they are more informed than institute’s director on where the gas had been produced," Zeman stated after the meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw.
Earlier, Zeman said that a small amount of the A230 toxin similar to Novichok was produced at the Czech Military Research Institute in 2017 and then destroyed. The Czech president added the country's military intelligence and the domestic intelligence service, BIS, differed on which substance could be classified as Novichok.
On March 4, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench near a shopping mall in Salisbury. The UK authorities have blamed Russia for attempting to assassinate the Skripals with what is believed by London to be the A234 nerve agent. Russia has denied having any role in the poisoning, pointing to the lack of evidence provided by the United Kingdom to substantiate its accusations.
