Russia has been working overtime this past month to absolve itself of alleged involvement in the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia on British soil.
It has claimed that it does not possess Novichok, the military-grade nerve agent used in the attack. It has accused the United Kingdom and its allies of spearheading an anti-Russia crusade. It has even gone so far as to suggest that the U.K. might itself have been behind the attack.
But, lacking evidence to back up such claims, Moscow’s effort to cast doubt on the accusations against it have been futile. That is, until British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson stepped in.
The deletion came just one day after Gary Aitkenhead, Porton Down’s chief executive, told Sky News the lab was unable to pinpoint the exact source of the nerve agent, noting: It is our job to provide the scientific evidence of what this particular nerve agent is … it is not our job to say where it was manufactured.
Moscow, unsurprisingly, seized on the disparity to discount British claims about Russian involvement in the attack.
In the U.K., Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of exaggerating British evidence against Russia a move he said left the foreign secretary with egg on his face. Johnson fired back by accusing Corbyn of choosing to side with the Russian spin machine.
In October, Johnson faced further backlash after he made a crass comment about dead bodies in Libya. One of his most serious blunders came in November when he mischaracterized why British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who is currently being held as a political prisoner in Tehran, was visiting Iran a move that threatened to double her sentence.
At best, Johnson’s latest comments demonstrate a habit of perpetual verbal clumsiness. At worst, they were intentionally false and misleading.
Though a statement by 10 Downing Street appears to suggest the former, noting that Porton Down’s findings were only one part of the intelligence picture that pointed to Russia’s involvement, the comments nonetheless demonstrate a blow to the U.K. one that is not only self-inflicted, but that has also enabled Russia to cast doubt on the U.K.’s investigation in ways it has otherwise failed to do.
For now, Moscow’s PR coup appears to be limited.
In a statement, the European Union reaffirmed its solidarity with the U.K., adding that Russia’s insinuations against EU countries (including its recent assertion that the U.K. might have been responsible for the attack) are completely unacceptable.