Sweden Summons Russian Envoy to Clarify Nerve Agent Origin Claim
Russian Ambassador to Sweden Viktor Tatarintsev has been summoned to provide clarifications about Russia’s suggestions that the nerve agent used to poison Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal could have come from a number of countries where it is was developed, including Sweden, the Swedish ministry’s press service told Sputnik.
“Russia’s ambassador was summoned today to the Swedish Foreign Ministry following Russia’s accusations about the nerve agent,” the ministry’s press service said.
No other details of the ambassador’s summoning have been provided by the press service.
The Russian ambassador later said in an interview with Expressen that he had explained Russia’s position on the incident. According to the ambassador, the poisoning case should be addressed via the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), and mentioning of Sweden in relation to the nerve agent, not in an official statement, was probably made in connection with the Umea laboratory in Sweden’s north where different chemical agents are stocked.
Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found unconscious earlier in March on a bench at a shopping center in Salisbury. Both of them remain in critical condition and are being treated for exposure to a chemical. The incident has already resulted in a diplomatic crisis in Russian-UK relations.
Commenting on Skripal poisoning case, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the substance in question could have been made in countries that have been actively developing nerve agents of the so-called Novichok family or similar since the 1990s, including the UK, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, and, possibly the United States.
Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom immediately denied the suggestion on Twitter, labeling it as unacceptable and unfounded.
