World leaders voice 'full confidence' that Salisbury attack suspects were Russian intelligence agents

Novichok suspects Alexander Petrov (left) and Ruslan Boshirov
PA
Patrick Grafton-Green6 September 2018

Leaders of the US, France, Germany and Canada have agreed that the Russian government was "almost certainly" responsible for the Salisbury Novichok poisonings.

Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement alongside Theresa May voicing "full confidence" in the UK's assessment that the two suspects for the poisonings were members of Russia's GRU intelligence service.

It comes after the UK earlier directly blamed Vladimir Putin for the botched poisoning attack.

Russia has continued to deny any involvement.

The statement said: "We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level.

"We have already taken action together to disrupt the activities of the GRU through the largest ever collective expulsion of undeclared intelligence officers.

They added that the announcement about the suspects "further strengthens our intent to continue to disrupt together the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories, uphold the prohibition of chemical weapons, protect our citizens and defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies".

Mrs May has spoken to all four of her fellow leaders in recent days to update them about the investigation.

Novichok nerve agent suspects - In pictures

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On Wednesday, the UK government dramatically named two GRU officers, who used the aliases of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, as the suspected hit squad behind the attempted assassination of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, in Salisbury in March.

Police published a series of CCTV pictures of Petrov and Boshirov and also the fake perfume bottle which is believed to have been used in the attack.

The bottle, which contained military grade nerve agent Novichok, was recklessly discarded, before being picked up by Charlie Rowley, 48, and used by his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, who died after being poisoned.

Security minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday that Mr Putin bore ultimate responsibility for the action of his intelligence agents.

He said the Russian president had a strong grip over his state, which "controls, funds and directs" the GRU.

Mr Wallace told the BBC: "The GRU is, without doubt, not rogue, it is led, linked to both the senior members of the Russian general staff and the defence minister and, through that, into the Kremlin and the president's office."

He said the UK would "use whatever means we have within the law and our capabilities" to "push back the Russian malign activity".

But Mr Wallace added: "We are not the Russians, we don't adopt the sort of thuggish, destructive and aggressive behaviour that we have seen.

"We choose to challenge the Russians in both the overt and the covert space, within the rule of law and in a sophisticated way."

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