Britain has formally accused Russia of being behind the attempted murder of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with nerve agent on its territory.
Prime Minister Theresa May made the claim in a statement to Parliament on Monday afternoon, in which she said Russia either ordered the attack or lost control of whoever carried out the attack.
It came after a National Security Council meeting, where she took evidence from the UK’s three intelligence agencies MI5, MI6, and GCHQ.
Skripal and his daughter Yulia collapsed in a shopping centre in Salisbury on March 4 after being poisoned with nerve agent. They remain in critical condition.
He was pardoned and sent to the UK as part of a spy swap in 2010, in which Russia released four agents to the US and UK in exchange for ten Russian agents in the US.
The Kremlin yet to respond to May’s statement. But it has previously downplayed and deflected claims of Russian culpability and attacked media speculation of state involvement.