Russia sends list of 13 questions to Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

Russian Foreign Ministry. Photo: TASS

Specifically, the list includes questions that Russia wants to clarify whether the UK sent any additional information about its own investigation, what documents the UK handed over, and whether the OPCW shared the UK's information with Russia.

Russia is also interested in what form of assistance the UK has requested from the OPCW Technical Secretariat, and what specifically it is asking the OPCW Technical Secretariat to confirm: only certify that the nerve agent was used in the poisoning, or clearly certify that it was “Novichok” as Western countries have alleged.

The list also includes questions for the OPCW itself: who will lead the organization's team of experts to the UK to investigate the poisoning, which experts will be part of the team, how long the investigation will last... In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry also requested clarification of the sampling procedure and compliance with the OPCW's principles of conducting investigations when taking samples.

Russia also asked for an explanation of whether the OPCW Technical Secretariat had agreed to disclose the British investigation data to the European Union (EU), or whether France had informed the organization about its participation in providing technical assistance at the request of the UK. And if France had conducted an investigation into the incident, whether Paris had passed on the results to the OPCW.

Russia also asked the OPCW to clarify the reasons if the organization does not share France's investigative information (if any) with Russia.

Previously, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia had convened an emergency meeting of the OPCW to have a "normal dialogue" and find out the cause of the poisoning of a former spy and his son in the UK.

Accordingly, the urgent meeting will take place on April 4 in the Netherlands. Russia wants to present specific views and evidence that it has repeatedly mentioned at many meetings of the UN Security Council. Russia affirms that Moscow wants its Western partners to sit at the table for open dialogue, without avoidance.

“If Western countries avoid this meeting, this is proof that the accusations in the past were only meant to provoke,” Foreign Minister Lavrov affirmed.

A team of experts from the OPCW is currently in the UK to collect samples of what London believes to be the nerve agent Novichok, developed by the former Soviet Union and used in the poisoning of former double agent Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the city of Salisbury, England on March 4.