‘Why would Russia blow Novichok program by assassinating an old bloke?’ – former ambassador (VIDEO)

Published time: 19 Mar, 2018 15:42Edited time: 19 Mar, 2018 16:26

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Forensic officers in Gillingham, Dorset,United Kingdom, where they removed a vehicle in the latest development following the Russian Spy Sergei Skripal attack. © I-Images / Global Look Press

Former British ambassador Craig Murray scoffed at the notion that anyone could believe the UK’s argument that Russia poisoned ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. The diplomat turned blogger talked to RT on Monday.

The former ambassador to Uzbekistan detailed a claim first made in his blog, that the language around London’s accusation against Moscow has been “very carefully formulated.”

Continuing, Murray claimed “The UK’s laboratory, Porton Down, refused to say that this nerve agent was made in Russia. The UK government put them under heavy pressure to say this nerve agent was made in Russia. They [Porton Down] said there was no evidence it was made in Russia.”

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Murray asserted that a linguistic formula was agreed upon, which labeled the nerve agent used in the poisoning as “a type developed by Russia.” The blogger detailed that “exactly the same formulation” was used in a NATO communiqué, Theresa May’s address to Parliament, the UK statement to the UN Security Council, and was contained in a recent EU statement.

“They’ve never said this nerve agent was made in Russia, [or] was produced in Russia, [or] was manufactured in Russia.”

Murray went on to challenge London’s assertion that the nerve agent was solely produced by Russia. “The alleged chemical formula for producing Novichoks was published – you can buy it from Amazon – it was published 12 years ago in a book. And the Iranians with OPWC [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons] supervision synthesized Novichok in 2016. So many people can make this.”

On Monday, the UK is set to hand samples of the A-234 nerve agent (also known as Novichok) used in Skripal’s poisoning to a UN watchdog, the OPCW. UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson accused Russia on Sunday of creating and storing the Novichok nerve agent, which London says was used in the attack on Skripal. Johnson claimed that the UK has “evidence… collected over the past 10 years” that Moscow has been developing nerve agents “for the purpose of committing murder.”

Murray expressed his disappointment that no UK journalists have asked: “Can you confirm that this was definitely made in Russia?”

“The idea that we have an investigative or free journalism in this country has been sadly exposed by this case.”

If Russia had the program that Johnson outlined, which the guest estimated would have cost hundreds of millions, Murray wondered why Russia would blow it on “assassinating an old retired bloke in Salisbury they let out of prison a decade ago?”