Russia tensions escalate as the UK imposes major travel bans and asset freezes on individuals linked to deadly Novichok poisoning in Salisbury and substance used to kill rebel Alexei Navalny
Britain has imposed major sanctions on nine Russian and organisations it says are behind developing chemical weapons to kill opposition leader Alexei Navalny and attack ex-spy Sergei Skripal.
Foreign office officials announced the move against seven people and two science bodies behind creating the toxin Epibatidine used to poison Navalny and the Novichok nerve agent used in a 2018 attack on Mr Skripal. The shocking 2018 Novichok attack in Salisbury left both Mr Skripal, now 75 and his daughter Yulia, 41, seriously ill and local woman 44 year-old Dawn Sturgess dead, after Russian special forces planted the substance at their home.
Alexei Navalny was killed aged 47 in a Siberian penal colony two years ago with a deadly toxin called epibatidine found in poison dart frogs in South America. Earlier he had been poisoned with a substance related to the Novichok that killed Dawn Sturgess and was hospitalised after being taken ill on a flight.
He was taken out of Russia and recovered in hospital in Europe before bravely returning to Russia, where he was arrested and jailed for 19 years. A European Arrest Warrant has been issued for the two men behind the Salisbury Novichok attack, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, who are suspected members of Russian military intelligence.
Both deadly crimes are believed to have been ordered personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The latest UK sanctions on Russian individuals and organisation includes asset freezes and travel bans and they apply to seven individuals and two research institutes, the Russian state scientific research institute SC Signal and GNIII VM, the State Scientific Research and Testing Institute for Military Medicine. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said that “Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons is a sickening violation of international law and a direct threat to global security.
“From the use of Novichok nerve agents in Salisbury to Epibatidine in Siberia, poisoning Dawn Sturgess and Alexei Navalny, Russia continues to use barbaric tools to inflict death and suffering on innocent civilians, including in Ukraine. We will continue to call out Russia’s violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention, hold those responsible to account, and work with allies to deter further use of these dangerous weapons.”
The Foreign Office said: “At the NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey this week, the UK will join NATO allies in strengthening collective security to tackle the long-term threat posed by an increasingly reckless and dangerous Russia, Its egregious and irresponsible actions, including the barbaric full-scale invasion of Ukraine, continue to undermine democracy. This is the latest step in the UK’s efforts to expose and deter Russia’s illegal chemical weapons activity and comes after partners united at the Munich Security Conference in February to confirm the abhorrent circumstances around the death of Alexei Navalny in Russian custody. “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny, and the UK holds it responsible for his death.”
The latest sanctions come at a time of growing tension between Russian and NATO and pressure on the UK to be seen to stand up to Kremlin aggression. Individuals sanctioned today include Vladimir Kondratyev who co-authored a paper on the testing of Epibatidine focusing on its toxic qualities as well as Andrei Antokhin and Viktor Taranchenko who conducted research on Novichok nerve agents.
The UK has now sanctioned over 3,400 individuals and organisations in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and will continue to expose and combat its hostile activity at every opportunity. They include Artur Zhirov – Director of SC Signal, Andrei Antokhin – Deputy Head of SC Signal, Sergeir Chepur – Head of GNIII VM, Vladimir Kondratyev – Director at GosNIIOKhT, Aleksandr Mahlay- Chief Scientist – SC Signal, Ivan Kravstov – Head of 4th Scientific Research Department at SC Signal and Viktor Taranchenko – Head of the 1st Scientific Research Centre at SC Signal.