NBC News is reporting that Dawn Sturgess, 44, has died following exposure to Novichok, the same nerve agent that nearly killed former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia last March. Charlie Rowley, 45, is hospitalized in critical condition. It appears that they were exposed to Novichok through contact with some contaminated object.
According to reports, while Sturgess and Rowley were in Amesbury, near Salisbury where the Skripal poisoning occurred, there’s no evidence that they had been in the areas that had been decontaminated.
This is causing increased tension between Russia and UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid said in a speech to Parliament on Thursday that this would “obviously… invoke memories of the reckless murder attempts of Sergei and Yulia Skripal earlier this year.”
“The eyes of the world are currently on Russia, not least because of the World Cup. It is now time that the Russian state comes forward and explains exactly what has gone on.”
“We do not have a quarrel with the Russian people. Rather it is the actions of the Russian government that continue to undermine our security and that of the international community.”
The investigation has been taken over by British counter-terrorism officials.
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