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London on Thursday summoned Russia to explain itself after the poisoning of a British couple, exposed to Novitchok, the same innervating agent that used four months earlier against a former Russian spy and her daughter, prompting
"It is now time for the Russian state to explain exactly what happened," Interior Minister Sajid Javid told the parliament after the meeting. an emergency meeting of the executive. "It is totally unacceptable that our citizens are deliberate or accidental targets or that poison is poured into our streets, our parks, our cities."
The United Kingdom has alerted the Organization for the Prohibition of Arms Chemicals (OPCW), a Downing Street spokesman said.
The two Britons, a 45-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, were treated in a critical condition Saturday in Amesbury (southwest of England), a small town about twelve kilometers from Salisbury where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned in early March at Novitchok, a neurotoxic agent of Soviet design.
London pointed to Russia, which denied any implication, engendering a serious diplomatic crisis between Moscow and the Westerners. The Skripals were finally out of business after several weeks of heavy medical treatment.
Moscow defended itself on Thursday saying it did not have "information on the substance used". The Kremlin said it was "very concerned" about "the repeated use of such substances in Europe."
"We call on British security forces not to give in to the dirty political games started by some forces in London ", said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy. "The government of Theresa May and her representatives will have to apologize."
"Contaminated Object"
The new victims of the poison remained "in a critical state" Thursday, according to the hospital Salisbury where they are treated
The couple was exposed to poison "after handling a contaminated object," said London police, whose anti-terrorist branch took the reins of the investigation, without being able to say at this stage if it comes from the same lot as that of the Skripal.
According to Mr. Javid, he would have "come into contact with the neurotoxic agent in a different place" of the sites decontaminated after the previous poisoning. One of the hypotheses is that "one of the two picked up the container used to store the neurotoxic agent used against the Skripals," a government source said.
"I think the container should be very small. ..) So it could be a syringe, a small surgical container (…) that can easily go unnoticed, "said Hamish Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons expert interviewed by AFP.
The leader of Wiltshire local police, Kier Pritchard, defended in front of the press the initial response of the police, saying it had been "fully proportioned" to what they thought was only an incident
Only later, because of the symptoms of the patients, samples were badyzed, whose "preliminary results" indicated on Tuesday evening a contamination with a nerve agent, according to the policeman. Either the eve of the public announcement of poisoning at Novitchok.
"Extremely disturbing"
Prime Minister Theresa May badured that the police would "move heaven and earth" to clear up this new case of poisoning, which she described as "extremely disturbing."
Sam Hobson, a friend of the couple, whom he identified as Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, told AFP that they had spent the day Friday in Salisbury and had trouble the following day.
Several places frequented by victims Friday and Saturday were closed to the public by the police, some hidden from view by opaque barriers, including a pharmacy, a Baptist Center and a Salisbury Park. A homeless shelter where Dawn Sturgess lived was evacuated.
"We are all worried. (…) Was it something coming from here?" Questioned a resident who refused to give
On Wednesday, Salisbury resident Patrick Hillman, 70, told AFP that he was "shocked that something happened so soon after" the Skripal case, also worrying about the repercussions for the
In the face of panic threatening to seize the population, the authorities wanted rebadurance.
The Public Health England Public Health Agency (PHE) reiterated Thursday that the risk to the population remained "weak". However, she advised "as a precaution" to those who went to the same places as the victims to wash their clothes, and asked people "to be vigilant when picking up unknown or dangerous objects such as needles or syringes. . "
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