Russia claims Skripals were poisoned with BZ toxin ‘in service in UK and US’
Contaminated: Investigators examine the park bench in Salisbury where Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found after they were poisoned.
Without further information to corroborate this, it is just a wild claim – but still enough to create another doubt about the UK government’s story.
If a Swiss laboratory really did find that BZ was used against Sergei and Yulia Skripal, I would like to know how it got hold of the samples, how it knew they were authentic, and what authority it had to test them.
The claim is still hugely damaging for the UK government’s position because – unlike that of Theresa May and her ministers – it does not contradict anything else the Russians have suggested; they have always denied having any part in the poisoning and this is their first theory about the nature of the toxin.
Of course the UK government and the media will try to rubbish the claim.
But with no credible story of their own, who are we to believe?
Russia claims the substance used to poison double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia was an agent called BZ that has been used by Nato states including the UK and US.
It was the Kremlin’s latest denial that the pair were targeted with a Novichok nerve agent developed by the Soviet military and latest attempt to discredit the findings of independent chemical weapons experts.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claims a Swiss lab found that a BZ agent was used against the Skripals.
He said the toxin was never produced in Russia, but was “in service” in the UK, US and other Nato states, state media reported.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) found that “high purity” Novichok was used in the attempted murder.
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The Swiss lab is one of five used by the OPCW and received the samples from them – the Mirror omitted a great deal on this story as it runs totally counter to the establishment narrative. Try checking out the RT link, and maybe ask the lab directly to comment. Lavrov, a far more serious statesman than our moronic foreign sec, will take this evidence to the UN and maybe the Hague – assuming he (unlike Bojo) is not making this up: https://www.rt.com/news/424149-skripal-poisoning-bz-lavrov/
The symptoms certainly seem like BZ
30-50mins to take effect, incapacitate for 4 days or more depending on the health of the recipient.
But surely it wasn’t done by our own honest, morally upright Government…..?
BZ is a “Soviet era nerve agent” developed and produced in the UK its formula is much more “complicated” than Novichok ……But it still could all be be a tragic accident.We are all subject to a wide range of similar chemicals (developed from these agents) every day ,from pesticides to air “purifiers” available in your local garden centre,supermarket and ironmongers.
Ever wondered why the notes in your wallet smell awful?Or the plastic bags your fruit and veg are in smell the same?…..
For some of us who have become sensitised to them we do get similar reactions as the Skripals experienced when we get to having an overload.
Were they or their neighbours gardening before going to the restaurant?
Please please read “Chemical Victims” by Dr Richard Mackarness Pan Books 1980 chapter 9.
BZ is an incapacitating agent, not a nerve agent. Unlike the nerve agents BZ isn’t an organophosphorous compound.
Yes!
I just do not understand how BZ could be confused with a Novichok agent. BZ is comprised of the elements C, H, O and N only. According to military wiki and wikipedia, the Novichok series were to be hidden under the guise of organophosphorus pesticides and therefore contain phosphorus. In addition most also contain fluorine, chlorine or possibly bromine, sulphur or selenium.
When I did organic chemistry one of the first basic tests (as a first year undergraduate) to identify a compound involved fusion with sodium metal which would pull out most of the more exotic elements listed above. Both Porton Down and the Swiss lab should have more sophistcated methods of analysis than were at my disposal, so why the disagreement? If they’re both working on the same samples and there has been no jiggery-pokery (as with olympic drug tests) there is no way BZ and Novichok can be confused. Somebody’s telling porkies!
MIKE
According to Russia Today, the lab was asked to sample by OPCW itself. Don’t know how true that is, but if so……………..
Boris Johnson is a proven serial liar who has told an outright lie regarding this incident, so why should I accept his lies? I put as much credence in the Russian version.
MIKE
Link for RT story:
https://www.rt.com/news/424149-skripal-poisoning-bz-lavrov/
The laboratory is one of the opcw accredited centres of excellence and apparently the samples were opcw suplied..this story has been alover the media, laverov made it a formal statement. Since the Swiss and opcw do not live in a media vacuum it is reasonable to take them not challenging the statement after a week ti be implicit agreement that the statement is true… I await hearing the opcw and labs response to the statement.
Sorry, which statement is being accepted as true – The UK government’s or the Swiss lab’s?
Contrary to msm claims the swiss lab statement does NOT refrute Lavrov’s statement, it says only the opcw can comment but it confirms that Porton Down found novichok which has not been doubted. The statement makes no mention of what was also found in the samples during the swiss labs analysis, as again only opcw can comment… So again Bojo it seems is ‘highly likely’ intentionally lying/misleading..there is ‘no other plausible explanation’
The whole May, Johnson, Bishop and Aitkenhead narrative pretty much destroyed in his article(linked below).
[t]he Swiss center that assessed the samples is actually the Spiez Laboratory. This facility is a Swiss state research center controlled by the Swiss Federal Office for Civil Protection and, ultimately, by the country’s defense minister. The lab is also an internationally recognized center of excellence in the field of the nuclear, biological, and chemical protection and is one of the five centers permanently authorized by the OPCW.
by:James O’Neill is a Barrister at Law and geopolitical analyst. He may be contacted it [email protected]
https://off-guardian.org/2018/04/16/the-skripal-case-the-perils-of-a-rush-to-judgment/
It is also worth noting that there is nothing to stop Russia from publishing the findings if May or any Labour Blairite wanted to repeat Lavrov’s claims except in denouncing them, without any right of response(which is exactly what the MSM will do).