Overview
- A public inquiry led by former UK Supreme Court judge Anthony Hughes found the 2018 operation against Sergei Skripal was authorised at the highest level and said President Vladimir Putin bears moral responsibility for Dawn Sturgess’s death.
- The report concluded GRU officers carried out an “astonishingly reckless” attack, leaving a perfume bottle containing Novichok that Sturgess later used, causing her fatal poisoning.
- The UK sanctioned the GRU in its entirety and listed individual officers, including eight alleged cyber operatives linked to activity targeting Yulia Skripal and others, as well as agents tied to attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
- The Foreign Office summoned Russia’s ambassador after the report’s release, while Moscow denied involvement and dismissed the measures as illegitimate, signaling the prospect of retaliation.
- British prosecutors previously charged three alleged GRU officers over the Skripal poisoning; arrest warrants remain active, but prospects for a UK trial are limited because Russia does not extradite its nationals.