A new sensational turn in the case of the Skripals. German journalists managed to find out: the formula of the poisonous substance Novichok could be found around the world almost 20 years ago. London from the very beginning insisted that in the poisoning of the former colonel of the GRU and his daughter, Moscow was to blame, and the poison could only have been manufactured in Russia. If the data of the reporters from Germany are correct, then London’s position is dealt a crushing blow. “The German Federal Intelligence Service cooperated in the 1990s with a Russian scientist who was used as an informant. The scientist offered to transport to the West a sample of the chemical combat weapon of the new class “Novichok”, which he subsequently did, “noted journalist Georg Mascolo. Further, as German journalists found out, the German authorities did not want to create the feeling that they were interested in chemical weapons, so the sample was sent for analysis to a laboratory in Sweden. From there they later received the formula of the poisonous substance. A whole working group was created, which included representatives of the United Kingdom, the United States, France, the Netherlands and Canada. Thus, information about the substance became known to at least seven countries. In some, the poison was synthesized to create protective equipment. And the list of states, apparently, is not final. It is exactly known that they worked with a similar poisonous substance in the Czech Republic, President of the country Milos Zeman announced this in early May.
Disproof
No evidence given. The German investigation does not suggest that the poison used in Salisbury was made in any other country than Russia. The Russian MFA Spokesperson Zacharova previously stated that Novichok could have come from Great Britain, Slovakia, Czech Republic or Sweden. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden forcefully rejected her statements, and so did the competent authority on the topic in Sweden (the Swedish Defence Research Agency). https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/ryssland-giftet-som-anvandes-mot-skripal-kan-ha-kommit-fran-sverige Later on, the Russian ambassador to Sweden stated that it was "a guess" without any facts supporting it https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/ambassadoren-backar-efter-giftutspel Also the Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky on Saturday denied Moscow's accusation that the nerve toxin used against a former Russian double agent and his daughter in southern England came from the Czech Republic. https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1GT0ML?__twitter_impression=true The nerve agent has been identified as Novichok (which means newcomer in Russian). It is known to be more powerful than VX and was developed in Russia in the 1970s and 1980s https://www.voanews.com/a/british-prime-minister-russia-poisoning-spy/4294683.html It's so unusual, that very few scientists outside of Russia have any real experience in dealing with it and no country outside of Russia is known to have developed the substance https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/13/europe/what-is-novichok-nerve-agent-intl/index.html In its statement, the European Union expressed shock at the offensive use of any military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, for the first time on European soil in over 70 years. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2018/03/19/statement-by-the-foreign-affairs-council-on-the-salisbury-attack/
