Chemical weapons inspectors arrive in UK for tests on nerve agent

They will study the substance at the military research facility Porton Down.

March 19, 2018, 9:58 AM

SALISBURY -- Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) are arriving in the U.K. to assess samples of the nerve agent used in the attack against former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter earlier this month.

The OPCW team will study the substance at the military research facility Porton Down, which is located just outside the city of Salisbury, where the attack took place.

The team will also meet with detectives leading the investigation into the poisoning attack.

The British government invited the delegation from the Hague, where the monitoring body is based, to carry out an independent study to identify the substance used in the attack.

U.K. officials believe the Skripals were exposed to a military-grade, Soviet-era nerve agent developed by the Russians.

PHOTO: A police officer stands outside the London Road cemetery where the grave of Alexander Skripal, son of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, is seen covered with a tent, in Salisbury, Britain, March 19, 2018.
A police officer stands outside the London Road cemetery where the grave of Alexander Skripal, son of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal, is seen covered with a tent, in Salisbury, Britain, March 19, 2018.

On Sunday ABC News revealed that intelligence officials believe the substance is a “dusty” organophosphate akin to the Novichok chemicals, and may have been administered through the car’s ventilation system.

The intelligence officials told ABC News up to 38 individuals in Salisbury were affected by the nerve agent but the full impact is still being assessed and more victims sickened by the agent are expected to be identified.

It will be weeks before the OPCW announces the results of its tests.

PHOTO: Russian President and Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at his campaign headquarters in Moscow, March 18, 2018.
Russian President and Presidential candidate Vladimir Putin gestures as he speaks at his campaign headquarters in Moscow, March 18, 2018. Vladimir Putin headed to an overwhelming win in Russia's presidential election Sunday, adding six years in the Kremlin for the man who has led the world's largest country for all of the 21st century.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has accused Russia of stockpiling the nerve agent over the last decade. Johnson also dismissed a suggestion from Russia's ambassador to the E.U. that the agent may have come from a U.K. laboratory in Porton Down.

PHOTO: In this file photo dated Aug. 9, 2006, Sergei Skripal, a former colonel of Russia's GRU military intelligence service, looks on inside the defendants' cage as he attends a hearing at the Moscow military district court.
In this file photo dated Aug. 9, 2006, Sergei Skripal, a former colonel of Russia's GRU military intelligence service, looks on inside the defendants' cage as he attends a hearing at the Moscow military district court.

The British government announced sanctions against Russia last week, expelling 23 diplomats they have identified as undercover spies, as well as announcing new measures to sanction individuals, bolster counterterrorism efforts and increase funding to Porton Down.

The Kremlin, which has condemned the British accusations as “nonsense,” retaliated by expelling the same number of British officials based in Russia.

PHOTO:This undated image taken from the Facebook page of Yulia Skripal on March 8, 2018 allegedly shows Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, in an unknown location.
This undated image taken from the Facebook page of Yulia Skripal on March 8, 2018 allegedly shows Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, in an unknown location.

E.U. foreign ministers in Brussels asserted their solidarity with the U.K. over the incident. A statement from the bloc called on Russia to "address urgently the questions raised by the UK and the international community and to provide immediate, full and complete disclosure of its Novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons."

PHOTO: A police officer stands next to screening surrounding a restaurant which was visited by former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia after being poisoned in Salisbury, Britain, March 19, 2018.
A police officer stands next to screening surrounding a restaurant which was visited by former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia before they were found on a park bench after being poisoned in Salisbury, Britain, March 19, 2018.

The statement did not explicitly accuse Russia of responsibility, dampening British hopes of a more muscular E.U. response to the crisis.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on Sunday was re-elected to another term, said "it's complete nonsense to imagine that anyone in Russia could resort to such tricks ahead of the presidential elections and World Cup."