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Britain: Scotland Yard Says Couple Poisoned by Russian Nerve Agent

HeadlineJul 05, 2018

In Great Britain, two people are in critical condition after they were exposed to what police say is the Russian nerve agent Novichok. The hospitalizations occurred just outside Salisbury—the city where four months ago ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were exposed to Novichok in what Britain’s government has said was an attack orchestrated by the Russian state. This is Neil Basu of the British Metropolitan Police.

Neil Basu: “We can confirm that the man and woman have been exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, which has been identified as the same nerve agent that contaminated both Yulia and Sergei Skripal. The latest update we have from the hospital is that both patients remain in a critical condition. Both are British nationals and are local to the area.”

Police have cordoned off at least five different areas around where the poisonings occurred, though officials insist there’s little threat to the general public. Britain and its allies have condemned Russia over poisonings, calling it the first use of chemical weapons on European soil since World War II.

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