May Says It’s ‘Highly Likely’ Russia Was Responsible for Ex-Spy’s Poisoning

British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that Moscow was either responsible for Sergei Skripal’s poisoning, or allowed the nerve agent to get into the hands others.

Downing Street has summoned the Russian ambassador to the UK to explain how the nerve agent ended up in Salisbury, May said, speaking to lawmakers following her meeting with the UK’s National Security Council.

Ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were found unconscious outside a shopping center in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4. Police suspect that they were poisoned by a “very rare” nerve agent. The pair are currently hospitalized in critical condition at a local hospital. The site where they were found has since been visited by 180 military personnel in hazmat suits to remove vehicles and objects from the scene and look for traces of the nerve agent.

In 2006, a Russian court convicted Skripal of high treason for collaborating with the UK’s MI6 intelligence agency during his service as an officer in Russian military intelligence. The disgraced officer, believed to have blown the cover of some 300 of his fellow agents, was sentenced to 13 years in prison. In 2010, then-President Dmitry Medvedev pardoned Skripal as part of a spy swap program, and the ex-spy moved to the UK, settling in Salisbury in 2011.

Tom Tugendhat, foreign affairs select committee chairman in the UK’s parliament, said the Skripal incident looked like a case of “state-sponsored attempted murder.” Following Skripal’s hospitalization last week, British media have accused Moscow of involvement, a claim Russian officials rejected, citing lack of evidence. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a BBC journalist that the UK should figure out what happened to Skripal before discussing the issue with Russia.