DISINFO: The attack on Skripal and his daughter was prepared by the West as a counter-Russian provocation
DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS
  • Outlet: aeronet.cz ( archived) *
  • Date of publication: March 25, 2018
  • Outlet language(s): Czech
  • Countries / regions discussed: UK, Russia

DISINFO: The attack on Skripal and his daughter was prepared by the West as a counter-Russian provocation

SUMMARY

Novichok’s gas acts immediately. To allow Scripal and his daughter to live, they must be given an antidote within 15 to 30 seconds after the attack. Russian authorities denied that Novichok would ever been developed in Soviet Union. In addition, Novichok was destroyed under the supervision and control of US experts during the time USSR existed. This means that the attack could not have been carried out by anyone other than the West, who had Novichok and an antidote ready.

RESPONSE

Many competing and contradictory stories promulgated by Russian state-controlled media, the only connecting thread being to confuse their audience and exclude any possibility of Russian involvement https://euvsdisinfo.eu/disinformation-cases/?text=sergei+skripal&disinfo_issue=&date=. 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, https://theconversation.com/what-we-know-about-novichok-the-newby-nerve-agents-linked-to-russia-93264. According to the Politics, the phrase 'no antidote to Novichoks' has been used and taken seriously out of context. For further myth-busting see www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2018/04/06/myth-busting-why-didn-t-the-skripals-die-on-the-spot, 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/

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Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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