Putin 'gave order to use novichok' in spy case

The UK government believes that Vladimir Putin authorised the Salisbury novichok poisonings, which could have killed thousands of people, an inquiry has been told.

- Steven Morris

A senior Foreign Office official gave a statement to the inquiry yesterday spelling out that the British government had concluded the nerve agent attack was so sensitive that the Russian president himself must have given it the go-ahead.

The inquiry also heard that the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was the target of the attack, blamed Putin. In a new statement provided to the inquiry, he said: "I believe Putin makes all important decisions himself. I therefore think he must have at least given permission for the attack."

Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned by novichok on 4 March 2018 in Salisbury, where he had been settled after a spy exchange. On 30 June 2018, Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Charlie Rowley, fell ill at his home in Amesbury, 11 miles north of Salisbury, having been poisoned with novichok that Rowley had apparently found in a perfume bottle left in a bin. The Skripals and Rowley survived, but Sturgess died on 8 July.

The inquiry, which began at the Guildhall in Salisbury yesterday, has been set up to examine Sturgess's death but it will also look in detail at the attack on the Skripals.

Andrew O'Connor KC, counsel to the inquiry, described the circumstances of Sturgess's death as "extraordinary, unique".