Britain spy case: Watchdog rejects Russia nerve agent claim

The head of the global chemical watchdog agency on Wednesday rejected Russian claims that traces of a second nerve agent were discovered in the English city where former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned.

FILE - In this Monday, April 16, 2018 file photo, Britain's ambassador to the Netherlands and permanent representative to the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW, Peter Wilson talks to an embassy employee after a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands. Member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog are meeting Wednesday April 18, 2018. (Michael Kooren/Pool photo via AP)

Britain blames Russia for the attack, which it says was carried out by smearing a Soviet-developed nerve agent known as Novichok on a door handle at Sergei Skripal's house in Salisbury. Moscow denies involvement.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Saturday that Moscow received confidential information from the laboratory in Spiez, Switzerland, that analyzed samples from the site of the March 4 poisoning in Salisbury.

He said the analysis — done at the request of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons — indicated that samples contained BZ nerve agent and its precursor. He said BZ was part of the chemical arsenals of the U.S., Britain and other NATO countries, while the Soviet Union and Russia never developed the agent.

OPCW Director-General Ahmet Uzumcu told a meeting Wednesday of the organization's Executive Council that a BZ precursor known as 3Q "was contained in the control sample prepared by the OPCW Lab in accordance with the existing quality control procedures."

He added "it has nothing to do with the samples collected by the OPCW team in Salisbury."

FILE - This Wednesday, March 21, 2018 file photo shows the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Netherlands. Member states of the global chemical weapons watchdog are meeting on Wednesday April 18, 2018 to discuss the nerve agent attack in Britain on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Britain's representative to the OPCW, Ambassador Peter Wilson, slammed the Russian foreign minister's comments as a breach of the treaty outlawing chemical weapons.

"The thing for me that was particularly alarming about Lavrov's statement is, first of all, the OPCW goes to enormous lengths to make sure that the identity of laboratories is confidential and, second of all, either the Russians are hacking the laboratories or they are making stuff up," he said. "Either way, that is a violation of the confidentiality of the Chemical Weapons Convention."

In a summary of its report last week, the OPCW didn't name Novichok as the nerve agent used but it confirmed "the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury."

Wilson told reporters that the OPCW "confirmed that they found what we found, and that is a Novichok."

Russia's representative to the OPCW, Ambassador Alexander Shulgin, repeated Moscow's denials and accused Britain of a string of lies.

"For now, I will only say one thing: the claim that the Technical Secretariat confirmed that this chemical points to its Russian origin is an outright lie," he said in a statement posted on his embassy's website. "The report itself does not say a single word about the name 'Novichok;' the CWC simply does not contain such a concept."

Shulgin at a later news conference accused Britain of trying to turn the executive council meeting into "a kangaroo court" and suggested that Britain could have arranged the attack on the Skripals to counter domestic tensions over Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.

"Perhaps the government of Theresa May, weakened by the troubles associated with Brexit, needs society to rally around this government," he said.

Shulgin also said Russia wouldn't accept the results of any report on the matter unless it gets full access to investigation details, consular access to the Skripals, and participation in the probe by Russian experts.

The envoy also spent several minutes of digression on Britain's alleged "very impressive experience" of using poison abroad, including involvement in the 1916 poisoning of Rasputin, a self-styled mystic who held great influence with Czar Nicholas II's wife.

The Skripals were hospitalized for weeks in critical condition. Yulia Skripal was discharged last week from Salisbury District Hospital, where her father continues to be treated.

Wilson told the meeting that London continues to believe evidence points to Russian involvement in the attempted assassination.

'We believe that only Russia had the technical means, operational experience and motive to target the Skripals," Wilson said.

Wilson warned the Chemical Weapons Convention was being undermined by a growing use of nerve agents and other poisons, mentioning the 2017 assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, in addition to the Salisbury attack and the use of poison gas in Syria and Iraq.

"It is being continually violated," Wilson told reporters.

He said the convention would be strengthened if all nations fully declared any stockpiles they still have. Member states are supposed to declare all their chemical weapons stocks upon joining the OPCW and destroy them.

The OPCW and Russia last year celebrated the destruction of the country's final declared stocks.

"Russia clearly has chemical weapons they are not declaring and they need to do that," Wilson said.

The antagonism between Britain and Russia played out again in the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday afternoon after U.N. disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu briefed members on the OPCW findings.

Britain's U.N. ambassador, Karen Pierce, said Russian responsibility for the attack was the only "plausible explanation." She dismissed several Russian allegations that others were responsible, including one accusing Britain for drugging Yulia Skripal. She said the claim was "more than fanciful — this is outlandish."

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the council heard "the same lies" and "mendacious, baseless and slanderous" allegations that the U.K. has been putting forward since the attack. He said the OPCW report only confirmed that the substance could be produced in a well-equipped lab, stressing that such labs exist in the U.K., U.S. and a host of other countries.

Nebenzia said Russia agreed with Britain on one point: "There will be no impunity and the perpetrators will be held responsible."

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to join grieving families at Dover Air Force Base on Saturday at the dignified transfer for the six U.S. soldiers killed in the war in the Middle East.

The dignified transfer, a ritual that returns the remains of U.S. service members killed in action, is considered one of the most somber duties of any commander in chief. During his first term, Trump said bearing witness to the transfer was “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.

On his social media platform Friday night, Trump wrote: “I will be going to Dover Air Force Base tomorrow, with the First Lady and Members of my Cabinet, to pay our Highest Respect to our Great Warriors, who are returning home for the last time. GOD BLESS THEM ALL!”

Those killed in action were Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California; Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; and Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, lowa, who was posthumously promoted from specialist.

The six members of the Army Reserve, who were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait, were all from the 103rd Sustainment Command based in Des Moines, Iowa, which provides food, fuel, water and ammunition, transport equipment and supplies. They died just one day after the U.S. and Israel launched its military campaign against Iran.

“These soldiers engaged in the most noble mission: protecting their fellow Americans and keeping our homeland secure,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a combat veteran, said after the six were identified. “Our nation owes them an incredible debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.”

During the ritual, transfer cases draped with the American flag and holding the remains of the fallen soldiers are carried from the military aircraft that transported them to an awaiting vehicle to take them to the mortuary facility at the Delaware base. There, the service members are prepared for their final resting place.

Amor’s husband, Joey Amor, said earlier this week that she had been scheduled to return home to him and their two children within days.

“You don’t go to Kuwait thinking something’s going to happen, and for her to be one of the first – it hurts,” Joey Amor said.

O’Brien had served in the Army Reserve for nearly 15 years, according to his LinkedIn account, and his aunt said in a post on Facebook that O’Brien “was the sweetest blue-eyed, blonde farm kid you’d ever know. He is so missed already.”

Marzan’s sister described him in a Facebook post as a “strong leader” and loving husband, father and brother.

“My baby brother, you are loved and I will hold onto all our memories and cherish them always in my heart,” Elizabeth Marzan wrote.

Coady was among the youngest people in his class, trained to troubleshoot military computer systems, but he impressed his instructors, his father, Andrew Coady, told The Associated Press.

“He trained hard, he worked hard, his physical fitness was important to him. He loved being a soldier,” Coady said. “He was also one of the most kindest people you would ever meet, and he would do anything and everything for anyone.”

Khork's family described him as “the life of the party” who was known for his “infectious spirit” and “generous heart” and who had wanted to serve in the military since childhood.

“That commitment helped shape the course of his life and reflected the deep sense of duty that was always at the core of who he was,” according to a statement from his mother, Donna Burhans, his father, James Khork, and his stepmother, Stacey Khork.

Tietjens, who came from a military family, previously served alongside his father in Kuwait. When he returned home in February 2010, he reunited with his overjoyed wife in a local church’s gym.

Tietjens’ cousin Kaylyn Golike asked for prayers, especially for Tietjens’ 12-year-old son, wife and parents, as they navigate “unimaginable loss.”

Trump most recently traveled to Dover in December to honor two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian interpreter who were killed in an ambush attack in the Syrian desert. He attended dignified transfers several times during his first term, including for a Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, for two Army officers whose helicopter crashed in Afghanistan and for two Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a person dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire.

This image provided by the U.S. Army shows Maj. Jeffrey R. O'Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa, in this May 16, 2025, photo. (U.S. Amy via AP)

This combination of images provided by the U.S. Army taken on May 16, 2025 shows, from left, Sgt. Declan Coady, 20, of Des Moines, Iowa, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minn., Capt. Cody Khork, 35, of Lakeland, Fla., and Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Neb. (Sgt. Brent Newton/U.S. Army via AP)