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Putin 'morally responsible' for Dawn Sturgess's novichok death, inquiry finds
‘Overwhelming’ evidence that Russian state planned attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal that led to Sturgess’s death in 2018, says chair
Vladimir Putin is “morally responsible” for the death of a British woman killed after she sprayed herself with a nerve agent smuggled into the UK by Russian agents to assassinate a former spy, an inquiry has concluded.
Lord Hughes, the chair of the inquiry, said the assassination attempt on the former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018 must have been authorised by the Russian president.
He said he was sure the Russian men took the fake perfume bottle containing the nerve agent novichok that killed Dawn Sturgess to Wiltshire and left it in Salisbury after the attempted hit on Skripal, which he described as “an astonishingly reckless act”.
Hughes said the evidence that it was a Russian state attack was “overwhelming”. He called it a “public demonstration of Russian state power for both international and domestic impact”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/04/putin-morally-responsible-dawn-sturgess-novichok-death-inquiry
Vladimir Putin is “morally responsible” for the death of a British woman killed after she sprayed herself with a nerve agent smuggled into the UK by Russian agents to assassinate a former spy, an inquiry has concluded.
Lord Hughes, the chair of the inquiry, said the assassination attempt on the former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018 must have been authorised by the Russian president.
He said he was sure the Russian men took the fake perfume bottle containing the nerve agent novichok that killed Dawn Sturgess to Wiltshire and left it in Salisbury after the attempted hit on Skripal, which he described as “an astonishingly reckless act”.
Hughes said the evidence that it was a Russian state attack was “overwhelming”. He called it a “public demonstration of Russian state power for both international and domestic impact”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/dec/04/putin-morally-responsible-dawn-sturgess-novichok-death-inquiry
This case has been bubbling under during the years since the attack. The main perpetrators (I won't hide behind "alleged" ), although identified and interviewed on Russian media after the event, have never faced justice for recklessly exposing members of the British public to a deadly nerve agent and killing one of them.
In the wake of this finding, Reuters reports:
On Thursday the government announced new sanctions against the GRU intelligence agency and summoned the Russian ambassador over what it called Moscow's "ongoing campaign of hostile activity".
"The UK will always stand up to Putin’s brutal regime and call out his murderous machine for what it is," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
The Salisbury incident triggered the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War, and relations between Moscow and London have deteriorated still further since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Britain providing large amounts of military aid to Kyiv.
Two of the Russians accused by Britain of carrying out the poisoning later appeared on Russian TV to deny involvement, saying they had been innocent tourists visiting the city's cathedral. All three have denied any involvement.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-report-womans-death-after-2018-novichok-poisoning-ex-russian-spy-2025-12-04/
"The UK will always stand up to Putin’s brutal regime and call out his murderous machine for what it is," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement.
The Salisbury incident triggered the biggest East-West diplomatic expulsions since the Cold War, and relations between Moscow and London have deteriorated still further since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with Britain providing large amounts of military aid to Kyiv.
Two of the Russians accused by Britain of carrying out the poisoning later appeared on Russian TV to deny involvement, saying they had been innocent tourists visiting the city's cathedral. All three have denied any involvement.
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-report-womans-death-after-2018-novichok-poisoning-ex-russian-spy-2025-12-04/
X-Posted in Latest Breaking News - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143576856