New intoxication with Novichok. London asks Moscow for explanations – World

Months after the poisoning that triggered a large-scale diplomatic incident between Russia and several Western countries, the UK again reports a case of poisoning on British soil.

This time it was a British couple, found unconscious last Saturday, and who remains hospitalized in critical condition. The incident occurred 15 kilometers from Salisbury, the city where Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned in early March after being exposed to Novichok agent, a grade-grade neurotoxin developed by Russia.

Dawn Sturgess, 44, and Charlie Rowley, 45, live in Amesbury, 13 miles from Salisbury. On Wednesday, Neil Basu, head of the anti-terrorism unit, confirmed that the results of the analyzes done to the couple "show that both people were exposed to Novichok's nervous agent," after analyzes carried out in the laboratory's military research on chemical weapons. , in Porton Down, Wiltshire.

A Cobra emergency meeting was held this Thursday morning, consisting of government officials and security forces, to analyze this case. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Theresa May revealed that this incident is treated with "extreme seriousness".

"I'm waiting for a phone call from the Russian state"

But despite the uncertainties surrounding the poisoning, the United Kingdom does not hesitate to point fingers at Moscow. Ben Wallace, the UK's security minister, has already sought clarification from the Russian government.

"I'm waiting for a phone call from the Russian state.They can fix this mistake, they can tell us what happened, what they did and help us to clarify what." They are the only ones who could help complete all the clues so we can keep people safe, "he told the BBC.

Ben Wallace also stated that he believed that the two British citizens were "not directly affected" but were "victims of the consequences of the previous attack".

"We do not know everything that happened before, during and after the attack on the Skripals," the minister said.

In statements to the British press, several security officials said that the couple would have no connection with the former Russian spy and that the scenario of accidental exposure to Novichok would be the more likely.

Similarly, MP John Glen, elected in Salisbury, believes that this incident results from "disposable paraphernalia" left by the poisoning of Sergei Skripal.

"My instinct is that the couple found a disposable tackle from the Skripal incident, there is no reason to believe that they were touched separately," he said. .

Moscow has never admitted any intervention or connection in the attack of 4 March against former spy, Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, to whom the United Kingdom has attributed l & # 39; attack.

In response to what the British authorities have designated as the first chemical attack on European soil since the end of the Second World War, London has ordered the expulsion of several Russian diplomats, followed by the death penalty. expulsion of other diplomatic representatives of Moscow. in several allied countries, including the United States and NATO.

In all, more than a hundred Russian diplomats were expelled, and the Kremlin decided to answer in the same currency, expelling representatives of several Russian countries.