UK Inquiry Says Putin Bears Moral Responsibility for 2018 Novichok Death

Overview

• Inquiry chair Anthony Hughes found the conduct of GRU operatives, their superiors and authorisers, including Vladimir Putin, to be incredibly reckless and directly linked to Dawn Sturgess’s death.
• Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after using a bottle she believed was perfume that contained Novichok months after the Salisbury poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.
• The Foreign Office called in Ambassador Andrei Kelin and announced measures targeting the GRU in its entirety.
• Three GRU agents remain charged in the UK and face outstanding arrest warrants connected to the case.
• Russia continues to deny involvement, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the findings underscore hostile activity on British soil.