The report of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons was to shed some light on the Salisbury poisoning, but the discussion of the document, which was partly classified upon Britain's request, raised new questions. Why is Russia accused of producing a substance, the formula of which is known to many NATO countries? And why was a toxic chemical that traces back to British and US labs found in the samples? The Russian Investigative Committee is carrying out its own investigation. A Vesti film crew managed to interview Yulia Skripal's neighbors in Moscow.
Darya Grigorova has new details about the scandalous case.
With her boarding pass in hand, a girl gets out of a taxi and passes through a metal detector, then she passes through airport security before finally boarding. This footage from Sheremetyevo International Airport is the last we see of Yulia Skripal for awhile. The video was made public by Russian investigators who traced the girl's whole trip from Moscow to Salisbury.
The British authorities claim that Yulia brought the toxic agent to the UK on board the plane. The so-called Novichok had been allegedly put in Yulia's suitcase. However, checked by the Russian Investigative Committee, this British version, like many others, went down the drain. Soon, the same will probably happen to the latest version involving a poisoned door-handle. The British are having a hard time sticking to one story. Russian Investigators determined Yulia Skripal's workplace, connections, and addresses of residence.
In Moscow, Yulia has a two-bedroom apartment on Davydkovskaya Street, which, according to her neighbors, she was going to remodel. That is, she certainly had no intention of leaving Russia for good.
Valery Kuznetsov: "I know that everything was being remodeled there. The dog kept howling. It was left alone there for a while".
Together with Yulia, her boyfriend Stepan dropped off the neighbors' radar.
Tatyana Yakovleva: "When she disappeared, her boyfriend disappeared too. We didn't see Yulia, her boyfriend, or her dogs".
A significant other, an apartment, work, and a dog give Yulia Skripal many reasons to return to Russia. But British tabloids report the opposite, saying that the girl is seeking asylum in the UK. To put it mildly, officials question the reliability of the information provided by the British side. Britain took a slippery slope trying to hide the truth in the Skripal case, according to Alexander Shulgin, the Permanent Representative of Russia to the OPCW.
Alexander Shulgin: "First, we asked the head of the OPCW mission the key question: Based on the independent testing carried out by OPCW experts, can the toxic chemical's country of origin be traced, as the British claim? The answer was absolutely unequivocal. No, it's impossible".
There was some flip-flopping when it came to the official position on traces of BZ toxic agent that were found in the Salisbury samples. The Swiss laboratory provided the Russian Foreign Ministry this information on confidential terms. However, at first the OPCW denied any BZ in the samples, which is in service in the US and other NATO countries, to add later that the chemical was not in the samples, but in the control sample, which was supposedly put there deliberately to check the competence of the laboratory.
Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson: "The head of the main lab in the Netherlands also reported that a BZ precursor was found but had been deliberately added to the control sample by OPCW experts to confirm the competence of the lab. That is, in such a case of global importance, samples were sent to a lab the competence of which is to be confirmed by adding some substances to the samples just for kicks".
There might be less doubt if Russia had access to the investigation. But even the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons gave the results of its chemical and spectral analysis only to London, although Moscow is equally an OPCW member. However, the Russian side is offered to take all conclusions on faith.
Darya Grigorova and Viktor Kazakov for Vesti from Salisbury, the United Kingdom.
