Putin personally approved the chemical weapons operation in Salisbury to kill the Skripals
The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions on the Main Directorate of the Russian General Staff, Russia’s military intelligence agency known as the GRU, and 11 individuals.
“The report concluded that the GRU is responsible for the death of a British citizen on her own soil, after President Putin personally approved the operation to poison [Sergei and Yulia] Skripal with the Novichok nerve agent.”
The attempted assassination of the Skripals led to the death of British citizen Dawn Sturgess, who in 2018 accidentally found a perfume bottle containing the Novichok chemical weapon.
It had been discarded by GRU officers Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga (operating under the aliases Petrov and Boshirov).
“The actions of Petrov and Boshirov, their superiors in the GRU, and those who authorised the operation – up to and including, as I established, President Putin – were extraordinarily reckless. They, and only they, bear moral responsibility for Dawn’s death,” said the head of the inquiry, Lord Anthony Hughes.
London asserts that the toxin was developed and stored by Russia in violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
In response to the inquiry’s findings, the UK imposed new sanctions on the GRU and several of its operatives.
British authorities also accuse them not only of the Salisbury operation, but of “preparing a terrorist attack in Ukrainian supermarkets,” targeting civilians.