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Two people are seriously ill after being exposed to Novichok's nerve agent, near where a former Russian spy and his daughter nearly died when they were in contact with a similar chemical weapon.
Who were the victims?
The couple was not formally identified by the police. However, one acquaintance told Euronews that they were Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44.
Both are British and local in the region.
On Facebook, they are listed as a couple since February 2017. Sturgess has recorded his hometown as Durrington, just a few miles from Amesbury.
What happened?
Emergency services were called to a house in Amesbury around 10:15 on Saturday morning after the collapse of Sturgess. About five hours later, they returned to the same address where Rowley had fallen ill.
Both are in critical condition at Salisbury Hospital. Initially, the police suspected that they could have taken contaminated medicine, but doctors became increasingly confused by their condition and sent samples for their specialized badysis on Monday.
The results of these tests were released Wednesday. the couple had been exposed to Novichok. Police said that they could not confirm if the chemical came from the same batch used during the previous poisoning.
What is Novichok?
The Novichok Chemical Weapon began making headlines in March. Serguei Skripal, a former Russian double agent who had fled to the UK after being released from prison in a spying exchange, had been used to poison
. Initially developed during the Cold War, Novichok's latest agents are the deadliest chemical weapons ever created. They may have been used for the first time in the murder of a Russian banker in 1995. The agents act by preventing the function of the nerves and causing the body to turn against itself.
All nations agreed to destroy all these weapons, except for small samples used for research purposes. Russia says that it has fully complied with the agreement.
Where did the incidents occur?
Emergency services took the couple to a house they shared in Amesbury, about 14 km from Salisbury, where Yulia and Sergei Skripal found unconscious. Police closed a series of sites that the couple had recently visited, including a park and property in Salisbury
The Research Center, Porton Down, where are based the best British scientists specializing in chemical weapons, It is about 10 km from Salisbury
What happened to the Skripal
Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious at a bank in Salisbury on March 4th.
The couple was in critical condition for weeks and doctors feared at one time that even if they survived, they could suffer brain damage.
However, her health quickly improved and Yulia was released from the hospital in April. weeks later.
In a written statement after 20 days in a coma, Yulia Skripal said that she and her father were "very lucky to have survived this badbadination attempt."
said that Esper He finally returned to Russia
Who was behind the first attack?
London accused Russia of being behind the attack with nervous agents against the Skripal, which led to a diplomatic dispute in which more than 20 countries among them, Germany, France and the United States has expelled a hundred Russian diplomats in support.
The British Foreign Office stated that only Moscow had the motive and the means to carry out such an operation. complex
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident, and President Vladimir Putin said that if a weapon-grade nerve agent had been used in Sergei Skripal, he would be dead.
Russia even suggested that the UK could have attacked by itself to fan anti-Russian hysteria.
Unlike the Skripal, Rowley and Sturgess do not seem to have any connection with Moscow, and the authorities say that there is no evidence that both were a specific target.
The highest anti-terrorist officer in the UK, Neil Basu, told reporters that officers were investigating whether the two incidents were related.
In a tweet, the Russian Embbady in the Netherlands rejected any suggestion that Russia was involved.
"What idiots think [Rusia] will use" still "the so-called" Novichok "in the middle of the FIFA World Cup and after the special session of the CSP (convened by [Reino Unido] ] which gave the OPCW allocation functions.The show must continue, "wrote the embbady.
The DEP refers to the Convention of the States Parties to the Convention on chemical weapons of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
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