He described Russia as \u201ca terror state\u201d and said it would use \u201canything in its disposal\u201d against enemies.<\/p>\n
Nato is now assessing chemical and biological weapons as part of its work against Moscow\u2019s hybrid threat. The military alliance is working with chemical, biological, and nuclear experts across Europe to build resilience to a potential major exposure to deadly toxins, this paper has learned.<\/p>\n
A senior Nato official said there was particular \u201cconcern\u201d about \u201cless sophisticated elements\u201d of Russian intelligence handling deadly toxins, raising the potential for \u201cunintended consequences\u201d, including wide exposure to the public, stemming from assassination attempts.<\/p>\n
Nato is supporting allies to strengthen the public\u2019s preparedness to exposure of deadly chemicals which have the potential to send fatal toxins into airways and water systems if unsuccessfully contained. The UK\u2019s Porton Down campus in Wiltshire is among a number of facilities where resilience to biological warfare is being developed.<\/p>\n
In September 2017, Russia claimed it had destroyed all its chemical weapons. However, a flurry of accusations and evidence against the Kremlin since then have thrown those claims into doubt.<\/p>\n
Russian authorities have long claimed Navalny died of natural causes, while being held in a maximum-security prison in the Russian Arctic in 2024. But patience with the Kremlin\u2019s denials has run out.<\/p>\n
Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 field officer said the \u201cinsidious\u201d use of poisons is a way of spreading fear among Russia\u2019s enemies, but added it is a tactic that \u201csmacks of insecurity and spitefulness.\u201d <\/p>\n
He told The i Paper British security services will need to be on \u201chigh alert\u201d to stop covert Russian assassins from entering the country with hidden vials of poison.<\/p>\n
A poisonous history<\/p>\n
In 2018 poison \u2013 Novichok \u2013 was used in the attempted assassination of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury. The poison is believed to have been smuggled into the UK in a perfume bottle.<\/p>\n
The Skripals survived, but British citizen Dawn Sturgess died after inadvertently coming into contact with the discarded perfume bottle. <\/p>\n
More than a decade earlier, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko was murdered in London with radioactive polonium-210. A UK public inquiry showed that dangerous levels of radiation had been traced across London, and later concluded the killing was \u201cprobably approved\u201d by the Russian state.<\/p>\n
Could they be mass produced? <\/p>\n
Samples taken from Navalny\u2019s body showed the presence of a toxic substance, epibatidine, according to a multi-intelligence agency investigation. <\/p>\n
\u201cEpibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America. It is not found naturally in Russia,\u201d the joint European statement said. \u201cThere is no innocent explanation for its presence in Navalny\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n
While toxins like epibatidine are not likely to be mass produced, experts said Russia has the capability to manufacture deadly chemicals in quantities far beyond those needed for targeted assassinations.<\/p>\n
A sprawling chemical factory on the outskirts of Moscow, called The State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology, was placed under sanctions by the US and EU for its significant role in the development of Novichok and for a previous poisoning of Navalny in August 2020. <\/p>\n
In response to Navalny\u2019s suspected poisoning the UK government formally notified the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the body responsible for enforcing the Chemical Weapons Convention, about the Russian state\u2019s use of a banned toxin.<\/p>\n
In reacting to the findings around Navalny\u2019s death, the Foreign Secretary said it was clear Russia did not destroy all its chemical weapons as claimed in 2017, and that there had been a \u201cblatant breach\u201d of chemical weapons laws.<\/p>\n
De Bretton-Gordon said while it was a diplomatic move, a referral to the OPCW does carry weight, telling the world that \u201cRussia is using chemical weapons\u201d and \u201cwe are doing what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
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