Overview
- Dr Vil Mirzayanov, now in his 90s, says he helped develop Novichok at Moscow’s GosNIIOKhT in the 1970s, describing the agents as engineered to be more lethal and weaponizable.
- He recounts attempts to prosecute him after he exposed the program in the 1990s before relocating to the United States in 1994 and later publishing formulas in a 2008 book.
- In a new interview, he alleges Vladimir Putin’s government is still pursuing fresh chemical variants designed to evade detection, a claim not independently verified in the coverage.
- The article revisits the 2018 Salisbury poisoning, which UK authorities identified as Novichok and concluded was likely sanctioned by Putin, a finding Russia continues to deny.
- Mirzayanov doubts Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok and suggests a different agent was used, and he cautions President Donald Trump that Russia exploits treaty loopholes.