State Dept Backs UK Assertion That Russia Responsible for Skripal Attack

23:41 GMT, 18 April 2018

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The United States continues to fully support the UK assessment that Russia is responsible for the nerve agent attack on former spy Sergei Skripal even after special meetings with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Executive Council, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a press release.

Sputnik

"We fully support the UK and the need for today’s special meetings of the OPCW Executive Council and the UN Security Council to discuss the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury and the OPCW’s detailed independent analysis," Nauert said after the sessions on Wednesday. "As we have made clear, the United States agrees with the UK’s assessment that Russia is responsible for this use of chemical weapons on UK soil– either through deliberate use or through its failure to declare and secure its stocks of this nerve agent."

Refusal to Cooperate With Russia to Confirm Skripal Case Was Western Provocation

18 April 2018, 19:34 GMT

The Skripals were found unconscious on March 4 on a bench at a shopping center in the city of Salisbury, UK. London immediately accused Moscow of orchestrating the poisoning with the use of the A234 nerve agent. Russia has refuted all allegations and pointed at the complete lack of evidence provided to support the claims.

Earlier in the day, UK Envoy to the UN Karen Pierce said that the OPCW had confirmed the UK findings that a military grade nerve agent was used in an attack against a former Russian spy Sergey Skripal in Salisbury, England.

Russian Envoy to the UN then responded that the report from the OPCW does not include any information that would help the UK government substantiate claims about Russian involvement in the nerve agent attack against the Skripals.