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Vladimir Putin must assume responsibility for the attack on Salisbury Novichok, said Security Minister Ben Wallace.
Speaking on the Today broadcast of BBC Radio 4, Mr Wallace said that "ultimately, of course," the Russian president was behind the poisoning.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and her daughter, Yulia, 33, were poisoned in Novichok on 4 March.
The British authorities will inform the UN Security Council Thursday of two men suspected of having committed the attack.
Prosecutors say that there is evidence to accuse the couple, that the prime minister said to be officers of the Russian military intelligence service, the GRU.
Mr. Wallace said that Putin's government "controls, finances and directs military intelligence – that is the GRU", adding that no one could say that the Russian leader "did not control his state".
Moscow denies any involvement in the attack.
Theresa May told the Commons Wednesday that the suspects had entered the UK with Russian passports using the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
She said that the intoxication was "not a rogue operation" and that it was "almost certainly" approved by a high level of the Russian state.
Sgt Nick Bailey also became ill after responding to the Salisbury incident.
And the police linked the attack to a separate Novichok poisoning on June 30, which resulted in the death of Dawn Sturgess.
Britain convened the Thursday meeting of the UN Security Council a day after Ms May addressed deputies about the suspects.
Russia is a permanent member of the council and will be represented alongside the British allies of the United States and France.
Mr Wallace said that the UK should use the meeting to "keep up the pressure, to say that the behavior we have seen is totally unacceptable".
And BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said that in parallel to the meeting, it was thought that there would be less visible activity, including a secret job of the British intelligence services to disrupt the GRU.
Ms May also said that Britain would push for the EU to accept new sanctions against Russia.
Prior to the UN meeting, Australia said that it was "in tune with the UK on the importance of holding Russia accountable" for "the dangerous and deliberate act ".
Putin's foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov, said the names of Russian suspects "do not mean anything to me".
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metropolitan police
Police released CCTV showing the two men arriving at Gatwick Airport on March 2
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metropolitan police
They were seen arriving at Salisbury Station the next day for what the officers said was a recognition
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metropolitan police
A photo of the couple near Sergei Skripal's house on March 4 was taken "moments before the attack," the detectives said.
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metropolitan police
About an hour later, they were seen in the center of town towards the train station
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In the evening, CCTV showed the couple at Heathrow Airport, where they had to board for Moscow
Moscow reaction
By BBC Monitoring
Responding to the new accusations, the Kremlin's media machine resorted to its usual tactics: a combination of denials and sarcasm.
"Do not laugh," said a state television broadcaster, broadcasting the latest news from London.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova herself appeared to accuse the UK of fabricating the Skripal case. "This whole story was created to punish Russia … to introduce sanctions," she told Rossiya Television 1.
"A detective novel" and "an absurd political thriller" were some of the epithets used by Russian news reports, which also claimed that Britain's allegations were unsupported by a plethora of evidence.
At the same time, they rejected the photographs of the suspects published by London under the name of falsifications.
"Put evidence on the table or go to hell," said a commentator on Russian state television.
The CPS does not ask Russia to extradite the two men because Russia does not extradite its nationals.
But a European arrest warrant was obtained in case the couple would go to the EU.
- Could the suspects be sent back to the UK?
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What is the GRU?
Analysis of BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner
Less known than the KGB – or its successor, the FSB – the GRU plays a shady but important role in Moscow's strategic plans.
It is the Russian military intelligence service that reports directly to the Minister of Defense. He has numerous cyber and signal operations and has been accused of computer hacking and online sabotage.
GRU officers are often stationed in embassies around the world and many were deported after the Salisbury attack in March.
Since 2013, Russia's elite special forces Spetznaz have been part of the command structure of the GRU and allegedly played a role in the annexation of Crimea in 2014. The British authorities claim that the operations of the GRU include assassinations both in Russia and abroad.
Sergei Skripal served in the GRU as a military intelligence officer in Afghanistan in the 1980s. In 2006, he was arrested and imprisoned after apparently betraying the names of his GRU colleagues to British MI6. In 2010, he was allowed to leave for Britain as part of a prisoner exchange, but in the eyes of the Kremlin, he will still be considered a traitor.
The Metropolitan Police said the two men had arrived at Gatwick Airport from Moscow on March 2 and had stayed at the City Stay Hotel at Bow Road in East London.
On 4 March, they traveled to Salisbury – after having also made reconnaissance visits the day before – where Mr Skripal's entrance door was contaminated by Novichok.
Yulia and Sergei Skripal became ill after Mr. Skripal's entrance door was sprayed with Novichok
Agents believe that a modified perfume bottle was used to spray the door.
The pair flew from Heathrow to Moscow later in the night.
While traces of Novichok were found in the London hotel room, there is no risk to other guests who were staying at the hotel at that time, indicated the police.
They now want to hear from everyone who has been invited from March 4 to May 4.
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Pennsylvania
The hotel in East London, where police say that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov stayed before traveling to Salisbury, is "open to business as usual"
Police said Ms. Sturgess and her partner, Charlie Rowley, were then exposed in Novichok, Amesbury, near Salisbury, after handling a contaminated container named Nina Ricci Premier Jour perfume.
Mr. Rowley told the police that he found the box containing the small bottle and an applicator – all found counterfeit – in a charity bin.
He tried to bring the two parties together and recovered some of his content. His partner, Ms. Sturgess, applied some of the content to her wrists and became ill.
According to Scotland Yard, the bottle containing a modified nozzle contained a "significant amount" of Novichok.
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AFP / Met Police
The bottle of counterfeit perfume recovered from Mr. Rowley's house and the police from the box said that she had arrived.
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Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were poisoned by Novichok
The Crown Prosecution Service has stated that Petrov and Boshirov should be charged with offenses, including conspiracy to kill; attempted murder and use and possession of Novichok in violation of the Chemical Weapons Act.
The offenses only relate to the Salisbury attack. Police said the officers continued to work with the Crown Prosecution Service on the Amesbury incident.
