Britain calls for UN meeting on OPCW nerve attack findings

United Nations (United States) (AFP) – The UN Security Council is expected to meet next week to discuss a report by the OPCW chemical watchdog confirming Britain’s findings that a nerve agent was used in an attack on an ex-spy, the British ambassador said Thursday.

Britain requested the meeting, which is likely to take place on Wednesday, just a few hours after the executive council of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) meets in The Hague.

British Ambassador Karen Pierce said the OPCW experts “agree explicitly with the UK’s analysis. This was a military-grade nerve agent of high purity.”

Pierce told reporters that the meeting next week would be to inform the council of the latest developments, suggesting no action would be taken.

Britain and its allies have blamed Russia for the March 4 attack that left former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in critical condition. Moscow has denied any involvement.

In an executive summary made public at Britain’s request, it said “the toxic chemical was of high purity” but did not name it.

Britain named it as Novichok, a group of powerful and deadly chemical compounds developed by the Soviet government in the 1970s and 1980s.