Moscow uses the United Kingdom as a breeding ground for poison, says Sajid Javid | Policy

Britain will consult with its allies about a possible response to Russia on the latest poisonings in Wiltshire, as it appeared that the couple in critical care had handled an object contaminated by the disease. neurotoxic agent novichok

Moscow accused Moscow of using the UK as a "dumping" of poison and urged Russia to explain "what happened".

In Salisbury, public health and council leaders warned people not to pick up the idea of ​​doing a general sweep of the city for novichok, although they said that they were not going to do anything. they could not exclude the possibility that more of the nerve agent was present.

The Guardian understands that the novichok that caused them harm could have been a sealed container as a result of the attack of the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in March

Sources close to the investigation hinted that they could now know the identity of the victim.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed Thursday night that the couple had fallen ill, Dawn Sturgess, 44, of Salisbury, and Charlie Rowley, 45, of Amesbury, collapsed after picking up an object contaminated.

In a statement, the force said: "Following further tests of patient samples, we now know that they were exposed to the neurotoxic agent after handling a contaminated object. "

The incident in Amesbury is seen by the authorities as a sequel to the March attack rather than a major new development. This would suggest that the police do not consider the agent as coming from a new batch, although the Met said he could not confirm it. The statement says: "We are not able to tell if the nerve agent came from the same batch that the Skripals were exposed to."

Update of deputies after chairing a Cobra government meeting on Thursday morning, Interior Minister confirmed that Sturgess and Rowley appeared to have been exposed to Novichok in a separate place from the Skripals.

"Our working badumption is that they came into contact with the neurotoxic agent in a different place than the sites that were part of it." The Kremlin denied any involvement in the latest incident and the "incident". Russian Embbady in London renewed its offer to participate in a joint inquiry with the United Kingdom.

Commons: "As we have already done, we will consult our international partners and our allies as a result of these latest developments. The eyes of the world are currently on Russia, especially because of the World Cup. It is now time for the Russian state to come forward and explain exactly what happened.

"Let us be clear: we have no quarrel with the Russian people, on the contrary, they are the actions of the Russian government.

" We will resist actions that threaten our security and the security of our partners. It is unacceptable that our people are deliberate or accidental targets, or that our streets, our parks, our cities are places of poison.

On Thursday, a Salisbury Inn where Sturgess had a room was evacuated and an outside bin placed under police surveillance. The 20 residents of John Baker House were invited to pack their bags and leave the building. Other areas of concern included Rowley's house at Muggleton Road in Amesbury, where the two men became ill.

Police have warned that residents of Salisbury will soon see experts in dangerous outfits on the streets of Salisbury. Patients and doctors at Salisbury District Hospital are trying to stabilize them. More than 100 people phoned a helpline for those concerned about the incident but no one else was ill.

At a press conference in Amesbury, Kier Pritchard, Wiltshire police chief, said that he was unbelievable.

He said: "We, like our communities and the general public, are shocked that a second major incident of the same nature has occurred in Wiltshire."

Alistair Cunningham, the chair of the Salisbury Recovery Coordination Group, denied that the cleanup had failed as a result of the Skripals' attack and was convinced that the areas where the decontamination work had taken place were clean.

He pointed out that Sturgess and Rowley would have been ill after visiting different areas of the Skripals. He said that there would be no general research for novichok but the investigation would establish what new areas needed to be decontaminated. He said that it was not possible to prove that there was no Novichok in Salisbury.

Cunningham said the scientists had said that novichok was degrading in the natural environment over time, adding that Sturgess and Rowley were in contact with a container.

Debbie Stark, deputy director of public health in England, urged people not to pick up unidentified objects. She stated: "Based on current evidence, the risk to the general public as a result of this incident remains low.

Novichok refers to a group of neurotoxic agents developed by the drug. Soviet Union in the 70s and 80s to escape international restrictions on chemical weapons.As other nerve agents, they are organophosphorus compounds, but the chemicals used to manufacture them as well as their final structures are considered as clbadified in the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries.

The most potent substances are considered more lethal than VX, the deadliest of the familiar neurological agents, which include sarin, tabun and soman.

While novichok agents work the same way, mbadively stimulating muscles and glands, a chemical weapons expert said that agents do not degrade did not quickly in the environment and had additional toxicity that was not well understood. The treatment for exposure to Novichok would be the same as for other nerve agents, namely atropine, diazepam and potentially the drugs called oximes.

The chemical structures of novichok agents were made public in 2008 by Vil Mirzayanov, a former Russian scientist living in United States, but the structures have never been publicly confirmed. It is thought that they can be manufactured in various forms, including in the form of dusty aerosols

Novichoks are known as binary agents because they only become lethal after mixing two components otherwise. harmless. According to Mirzayanov, they are 10 to 100 times more toxic than conventional neurotoxic agents.

While the laboratories used for police chemical weapons incidents have databases on nerve agents, few Russians the chemicals needed to make them

Photography: Matt Cardy / Getty Images Europe

"I understand that people from Amesbury and Salisbury, and those who have recently visited the area, will be concerned about this incident, but I would like to rebadure you that it is safe to continue your business. to live in the area. "

Investigators dismissed the possibility of Sturgess and Rowley having ties to Russia or being targeted for murder. However, they can now know the identity of the individuals who smeared the door button at the Skripal in Salisbury.

In May, it appeared that police and intelligence agencies had not identified the perpetrators, partially obstructed CCTV footage in Salisbury, but the police changed tactics, neither confirming nor denying to know if she knew the identity of the authors.