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LONDON – A 44-year-old British woman exposed to a nerve agent died Sunday, bringing a new urgency to a four-month diplomatic confrontation in which Britain accused Russia of sending the poison into a small town British authorities have opened an investigation into a murder
"Today is the day we were hoping never to come," police chief Kier Pritchard of Wiltshire police said. Police say the woman, Dawn Sturgess, 44, was probably accidentally exposed to residues of a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during an attack. in March against the former spy Sergei V. Skripal. He lived near Mrs. Sturgess in Salisbury
After Mr. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, collapsed, British officials confidently stated that Russia was at fault, largely because of the dark poison involved. It is part of a strain of nerve agents known as Novichok which they say is tightly controlled by the Russian authorities.
Russia has denied any involvement.
In recent months, investigators have not talked much about the evidence they have gathered and they have named no suspects. And the Skripals have recovered, allowing the crime to fall from the first pages.
The death of Sturgess is likely to change that, forcing Britain to reaffirm its suspicions, just as Russia enjoys international attention as a host of the 2018 World Cup. 19659002] "It becomes a murder, involving a British national rather than a Russian," said James Nixey, head of the Russia and Eurasia program at Chatham House, a research group in London. "It hardens determination where the resolution was weakening."
It also presents another urgent challenge for the British authorities: the contamination, it seems, was more widespread than originally thought.
it was over, "said Nixey. "If there were still things hidden in hidden containers, then I think they will be abnormally worried.It is, after all, the state's first duty to protect its citizens. "
Sturgess and her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, 45, appear to have been accidental victims. When they became ill on July 1, the police initially suspected an overdose or a lot of contaminated drugs.
But their symptoms – foaming at the mouth, highlighting pupils and hallucinations – were similar to those that had emerged with the three previous victims: the Skripals, and a detective who was exposed in responding to the crime [19659012]. Sturgess and Mr. Rowley were physically frail after years of addiction, compromising the liver's ability to detoxify the body. Mr. Rowley remains in critical condition
Police said the nerve agent who poisoned them on Saturday was the same guy that used on Mr. Skripal and his daughter in March, but could not confirm that it was the same strain or the same batch.
Neil Basu, senior counterterrorism officer of the Metropolitan Police, said the authorities continued to look for possible links to the poisoning of the Skripals.
"This terrible news has only strengthened our determination to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for what I can only describe as a scandalous, reckless and barbarous act," said Mr. Basu in a statement. evening. "The detectives will continue their painstaking and careful work to gather all the available evidence so that we can understand how two citizens were exposed with such a deadly substance that tragically cost Dawn's life."
Sturgess's son, Ewan Hope, 19, told The Mirror newspaper that he had visited her at the hospital, but that he had been allowed to touch her only with gloves.
: "I love you mom. I just want you to get better, "he told the newspaper before he died. "I'm afraid of losing my mother."
In posts on Facebook, Ms. Sturgess had written that she was having trouble finding housing, but recently she moved into a room of John Baker House, a facility with support services. in Salisbury for people with drug and alcohol problems. Her messages cleared up in February 2017 when she began her relationship with Mr. Rowley, a recovering heroin addict who rented an apartment in Amesbury, eight miles away
"I fell in love …", writes -she. "I trust Charlie for my life and he gets me the best gifts of all time."
The police carefully outlined the route taken by Mrs. Sturgess and Mr. Rowley during the hours preceding their collapse. – Maybe a light bulb or a syringe – that both had handled.
It is unclear how the British public will react to the death of Mrs. Sturgess, said Olga Oliker, Russia and Eurasia program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a research group in Washington DC
"C & It's a bit like election interference in the US elections – interference occurs, and when new evidence comes up, anger rises, "she said. "In this case, you have the death of a person, which makes it different."
Oliker described the attack against the Skripals as a "strange affair" because it seemed to have been conducted carelessly.
"Past cases that seemed similar were certainly much more professional," she said. "This is sloppy – so much evidence left behind, material left where people might find it."
After the new poisonings became public, Russia denied any involvement, and officials suggested alternative explanations. A Russian legislator said that the British authorities could have concocted the case to defile the image of Russia while the country hosted the World Cup football tournament.
Although there has been a series of suspicious deaths In recent years, only one has resulted in a full investigation and an extradition request. The victim was Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former officer of the Federal Security Service killed in 2006. He was served tea enriched with Polonium 210, a radioactive isotope.
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