Two British nationals have been poisoned by novichok, the same nerve agent used to poison former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in March.
Authorities said the latest two victims — identified by friends as British nationals Charlie Rowley, 45, and Dawn Sturgess, 44 — were found unconscious over the weekend at a residential property in Amesbury just a few miles from where a nerve agent was used in March to poison the former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter, Yulia.
Witnesses told the British press that before Rowley and Sturgess succumbed they were frothing at the mouth, hallucinating and incoherent.
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The latest two victims were found in Amesbury, about eight miles north of Salisbury, where the Skripals were attacked.
Authorities said the cases may be related, but they did not say how.
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British police declared a “major incident” early Wednesday — four days after the two victims were exposed ...
Sam Hobson, 29, a friend of Rowley and Sturgess’s, told the Daily Telegraph that the day before they fell ill, the three of them were in Salisbury visiting a number of sites in the town’s center, not far from where the Skripals were found.
Russia claims it is not responsible for the poisoning.
The Kremlin has said it is “deeply concerned” by the poisoning of a British couple with the nerve agent novichok but has claimed Russia had nothing to do with it.
It was the highest-level response yet to Wednesday’s poisoning, which Russian officials said on social media would be “dumb” for Moscow to have carried during the World Cup.
Vladimir Putin’s personal spokesman categorically denied that Russia was behind the use of the nerve agent in Wiltshire and also complained that Russia had not been given information about what substances were used.
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The latest incident comes at a particularly sensitive moment. Russia is hosting tens of thousands of foreigners during the World Cup and its national team could face England in the semi-finals next week if both teams win their next matches. Russian media and officials have suggested that the Skripal attack was a provocation to take the football tournament away from Russia. As a result of the Salisbury poisonings, British ministers and members of the royal family have not attended the World Cup.
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British law enforcement has suggested that the latest poisonings were probably caused by the nerve agent used in the original attack, and that the Amesbury couple were not targeted specifically.
Russia denies any involvement in latest UK novichok poisoning (The Guardian)