FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

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OPCW Confirms Neither It nor Porton Down Knows the Source of Skripal Poison

April 12, 2018 (EIRNS)—The Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) issued its report today on the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, based on examinations of blood samples and recovered traces of poison “with full chain of custody,” conducted up through March 23. The OPCW reports says its findings “confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury,” and that the toxin was “of an extraordinary degree of purity.”

It does not name the agent as Novichok, nor make any findings as to where it may have been produced. The findings of the U.K.’s Porton Down Defense Science and Technology Laboratory, which the OPCW states it is confirming, also did not include any evidence or conclusions as to where the agent was produced.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson lied boldly that the OPCW finding “gives conclusive proof” of his charges that Russia poisoned the Skripals, trying to seize on the absence of a sentence from the OPCW like that from Porton Down, “We did not find evidence of the origin of the agent.” The OPCW, however, is clearly confirming in its entirety, the Porton Down lab’s finding. That finding embarrassed Johnson and forced the Foreign and Colonial Office to delete his posted false statements claiming the Porton Down scientists were the source of his blaming Russia.

Meantime, Yulia Skripal was discharged from Salisbury District Hospital yesterday. On April 11, speaking outside the facility, Medical Director Christine Blanshard described her recovery, and said that, “Her father has also made good progress. On Friday [April 6] I announced he was no longer in a critical condition. Although he is recovering more slowly than Yulia, we hope that he too will be able to leave hospital in due course.”