Full Answer
Why did the Skripals'health improve so quickly?
That's what could have kickstarted the rapid improvement seen in the Skripals' health over the last few weeks. "If you can keep someone alive eventually they will recover because the body makes up what was blocked by the nerve agent," says Prof Hay. "And that happens increasingly, and that's why someone progresses and improves...
How did the Skripals survive the Russian attack?
"The Skripals have survived because they've had great medical care," says Prof Hay. "I'm sure if the paramedics hadn't been on the scene as quickly as they were - and were able to ensure that the Skripals kept breathing - they wouldn't have survived."
What is the latest on the Skripal case?
On 22 March, the Court of Protection gave permission for new blood samples to be obtained from Yulia and Sergei Skripal for use by the OPCW. By 28 March, the police investigation concluded that the Skripals were poisoned at Sergei's home, with the highest concentration being found on the handle of his front door.
How did the Skripals recover so quickly from nerve agent poisoning?
"Once they had some idea the nerve agent had probably been removed from the body, they could bring somebody out of sedation," explains Prof Hay. The enzyme suppressed by nerve agents such as novichok "is eventually made again in the body". That's what could have kickstarted the rapid improvement seen in the Skripals' health over the last few weeks.
How were the Skripals treated?
Both Skripals were heavily sedated which allowed them to tolerate the intrusive medical equipment they were connected to, but also helped to protect them from brain damage, a possible consequence of nerve agent poisoning.
How did they treat Novichok?
Dr Mirzayanov said there were antidotes - atropine and athene - that helped stop the action of the poison, but that they were not a cure. If a person is exposed to the nerve agent, their clothing should be removed and their skin washed with soap and water. Their eyes should be rinsed and they should be given oxygen.
What happened to the Skripals after they recovered?
Sergei and Yulia Skripal have reportedly been living in a safe house guarded by MI6 for more than a year.
Did the Salisbury poisoning victims survive?
All three survived after being poisoned in March that year. Members of a Russian military intelligence squad are believed to have smeared the deadly nerve agent on Mr Skripal's door handle in Salisbury.
Is there an antidote for Novichok?
"There's no declassified information on reactivation" in Novichok victims, Radić says. One researcher says pralidoxime, an antidote carried by U.S. soldiers at risk of nerve agent exposure, helped the Salisbury victims—but not by reactivating AChE.
How did navalny survive?
It had been planned that Navalny would die on board the plane, but he had survived "thanks to a sequence of successful coincidences: the quick reaction of the pilot who made an emergency landing, and the doctors in Omsk, who immediately injected Navalny with atropine".
What happened to Sturgess daughter?
Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed in Salisbury on 4 March 2018 after being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok at his home on the outskirts of the city.
What happened to the policeman poisoned in Salisbury?
An ex-policeman who sued his former force after being poisoned in the Salisbury Novichok attack says a financial settlement has been reached. Det Sgt Nick Bailey was the first person to enter the home of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia after they were found poisoned in March 2018.
How is Sergei Skripal doing?
The Sunday Times Magazine has since reported that the Skripals have moved to New Zealand. According to a senior government source, Sergei and his daughter have been given new identities and various other protections to help them start over.
How many died from Salisbury nerve agent?
Police determined that they were poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent of the same kind used in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, 8 miles (13 km) away, almost four months prior....2018 Amesbury poisoningsDeathsDawn Sturgess (8 July 2018, aged 44, after being admitted to hospital)5 more rows
Is Novichok still in Salisbury?
The Salisbury Novichok poisonings have "left a mark" on the city, as the leader of Wiltshire Council says Russia's actions in Ukraine have reminded the community of the painful events which left one woman dead.
How is Nick Bailey doing now?
He left Wiltshire Police in October 2020 after struggling to adjust to life back on the front line, and is now taking legal action against the force.
Where did Skripals go in Salisbury?
At 13:30 Skripal's car was seen on Devizes Road on the way towards the town centre. At 13:40 the Skripals arrived in the upper level car park at the Maltings , Salisbury and then went to the Bishop's Mill pub in the town centre. At 14:20 they dined at Zizzi on Castle Street, leaving at 15:35.
Who was the poisoning victim of Sergei Skripal?
Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Det Sgt Nick Bailey, Wilts Police. The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, on 4 March 2018 in the city of Salisbury, England.
What was found in the Novichok bottle?
Investigators said that the perfume bottle containing Novichok nerve agent, which was later found in a bin, had contained enough of the nerve agent to potentially kill thousands of people. In early 2019, building contractors built a scaffolding "sealed frame" over the house and the garage of Skripal's home.
How long did Yulia stay in a critical condition?
After three weeks in a critical condition, Yulia regained consciousness and was able to speak. Sergei was also in a critical condition until he regained consciousness one month after the attack. On 5 April, doctors said that Sergei was no longer in critical condition and was responding well to treatment.
Where was Sergei Skripal poisoned?
The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, on 4 March 2018 in the city of Salisbury, England. According to UK sources and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), ...
How many Russian diplomats were expelled from the EU?
Sixteen EU countries expelled 33 Russian diplomats on 26 March. The European Union officially sanctioned 4 Russians that were suspected of carrying out the attack on 21 January 2019. The head of the GRU Igor Kostyukov and the deputy head Vladimir Alexseyev were both sanctioned along with Mishkin and Chepiga.
Who was the poisoner in Wilts?
Det Sgt Nick Bailey, Wilts Police. The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, on 4 March 2018 in the city of Salisbury, England.
How to treat sarin and VX?
Treatment for sarin and VX exposure involves giving atropine to block the effects of acetylcholine, pralidoxime to restore the activity of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme, and diazepam to stop convulsions. Ventilation is often required to help victims breathe.
What are the two nerve agents that kill people?
The two main nerve agents used to kill people are sarin and VX , says Martin Boland at Charles Darwin University in Australia, although a source has told the BBC today that it is likely to be a rarer nerve agent in this case.
Why was Skripal called the spy with the Louis Vuitton bag?
At the time, he was serving in the Russian Ground Forces and was nicknamed "the Spy with the Louis Vuitton bag" because of his taste for luxury goods. 6.
What happened to Yulia and KGB?
The ex-KGB spy and his daughter Yulia, 36, were exposed to a nerve agent and fell gravely ill after having a pizza lunch in Salisbury on Sunday, March 4, 2018. They were found slumped on a bench in a "catatonic state" and spent weeks critically ill in hospital.
How did Sergei's wife die?
Sergei's wife Liudmila died from cancer in 2012 and in 2017 he lost his older brother and his 43-year-old son Alexandr. Alexandr was said to have died from liver failure on holiday in St Petersburg. His daughter Yulia lived for a time in the UK but moved back to Moscow. 6.
Who was the Russian agent who poisoned his daughter?
Clara Gaspar. Invalid Date, FORMER Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok in his adopted hometown of Salisbury in March 2018. The nerve attack, which also poisoned his daughter Yulia, sparked a diplomatic row between the UK and Russia.
Was Skripal a spy?
Skripal also has previous connections with Spain, during his time as a Russian spy. While stationed in Spain as an employee of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence, the Russian spy turned double agent was considered a potential recruit by Spanish intelligence. Vladimir Putin has claimed the former spy had betrayed ...
Where were the Skripals discovered?
Local police have retaken control of The Maltings shopping centre, where the Skripals were first discovered, and London Road cemetery from counter-terrorism detectives, where officers focused their investigation into the nerve agent attack in previous weeks.
What did Sergei Skripal poison?
Detectives investigating the attempted murders of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal have said they believe the pair were poisoned with a nerve agent at the front door of his Salisbury home. Specialists investigating the poisoning of the the Skripals have found ...
How many people were exposed to the Salisbury poisoning?
More than 130 people could have been exposed to the chemical weapon in the aftermath of the poisoning in Salisbury, which the UK government believes was committed by the Russian state. In response to the poisoning, more than 150 Russian officials have been expelled from more than 25 countries, and the UK government is considering further measures ...
Overview
Chronology of events
• At 14:40 GMT on 3 March 2018, Yulia Skripal, the 33-year-old daughter of Sergei Skripal, a 66-year-old resident of Salisbury, flew into Heathrow Airport from Russia.
• At 09:15 on 4 March Sergei Skripal's burgundy 2009 BMW 320d was seen in the area of London Road, Churchill Way North and Wilton Road at Salisbury.
• At 13:30 Skripal's car was seen on Devizes Road on the way towards the town centre.
Investigation
The first public response to the poisoning came on 6 March. It was agreed under the National Counter Terrorism Policing Network that the Counter Terrorism Command based within the Metropolitan Police would take over the investigation from Wiltshire Police. Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, appealed for witnesses to the incident following a COBR meeting chaired by Home Secretary Amber Rudd.
Samples of the nerve agent used in the attack tested positive at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton …
Response of the United Kingdom
Within days of the attack, political pressure began to mount on Theresa May's government to take action against the perpetrators, and most senior politicians appeared to believe that the Russian government was behind the attack. The situation was additionally sensitive for Russia as Russian president Vladimir Putin was facing his fourth presidential election in mid-March, and Russia was to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup football competition in June. When giving a response to an urgent question from Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Se…
Response of Russia
On 6 March 2018 Andrey Lugovoy, deputy of Russia's State Duma and alleged killer of Alexander Litvinenko, in his interview with the Echo of Moscow said: "Something constantly happens to Russian citizens who either run away from Russian justice, or for some reason choose for themselves a way of life they call a change of their Motherland. So the more Britain accepts on its territory every good-for-nothing, every scum from all over the world, the more problems they will have."
Chemical weapons experts and intelligence
On 3 April 2018 Gary Aitkenhead, the chief executive of the Government's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) at Porton Down responsible for testing the substance involved in the case, said they had established the agent was Novichok or from that family but had been unable to verify the "precise source" of the nerve agent and that they had "provided the scientific info to Government who have then used a number of other sources to piece together the conclusions you have come to". Aitkenhead refused to comment on whether the la…
Response from other countries and organisations
Following Theresa May's statement in Parliament, the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson released a statement on 12 March that fully supported the stance of the UK government on the poisoning attack, including "its assessment that Russia was likely responsible for the nerve agent attack that took place in Salisbury". The following day, US President Donald Trump said that Russia was likely responsible.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley at the Security Council briefing on 14 March 2018 st…
Expulsion of diplomats
By the end of March 2018 a number of countries and other organisations expelled a total of more than 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity with the UK. According to the BBC it was "the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history".
The UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats on 14 March 2018. Three days later, Russia expelled an equal number of British diplomats and ordered closure of the UK consulate in St. Petersburg a…