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Sergei Skripal, the former Russian spy living in Britain, and his daughter Yulia Skripal, were poisoned with a dose as large as 50 to 100 grams of the nerve agent, Novichok.
This was stated by the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Üzümcü, in an interview, The Guardian reported.
According to Üzümcü, this dosage significantly exceeds the amount required for research purposes, thus showing that Novichok was probably used as a weapon. He added that 100 grams is equivalent to 100 milliliters, which is the maximum amount of liquid allowed in hand luggages on flights.
The nerve agent could be applied with an aerosol spray or transported in liquid form, he said.
“For research activities or protection, you would need for instance, five to 10 grams or so, but even in Salisbury, it looks like they may have used more than that, without knowing the exact quantity, I am told it may be 50, 100 grams or so, which goes beyond research activities for protection,” he said.
Samples of the agent were collected from the door handle of the Skripal home, the park bench where the two collapsed and “a few other places where the Skripals were present,” Üzümcü added.
Yulia and Sergei Skripal are no longer in critical conditon. Their health is said to be improving rapidly. Yulia Skripal has already been discharged, but her father is still in the hospital.
On March 4, 2018, Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious on a bench, at the Salisbury shopping mall in England. Investigators found that they were poisoned by the neuroparalytic substance, Novichok, which was developed in Russia.
As a result, Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats from the country. On March 26, more than 20 countries announced the expulsion of Russian diplomats in response to the attack and as a sign of solidarity with Britain. More than a hundred Russian intelligence officers, who were working under a diplomatic cover, were declared as persona non grata.
Czech president, Milos Zeman, has recently said that his country had produced small quantities of Novichok. Zeman’s comments were seized on by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who said they were a “clear illustration of the groundless stance the British authorities have taken.”
However, Britain has argued that the use of Novichok, which was developed by the former Soviet Union in the 1980s, means that there is no “plausible alternative” explanation other than Russia was behind the attack.
