UK Inquiry Blames Putin, Russian GRU for 2018 Novichok Death — London Imposes Broad Sanctions

Britain holds Moscow accountable for nerve-agent attack that killed a UK civilian, summons ambassador and targets GRU with fresh sanctions

A British public inquiry has concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised the 2018 nerve-agent attack that poisoned former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and later killed a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, ruling the operation ‘state-sanctioned’ and morally attributed to the Russian leadership.

The lethal nerve agent Novichok was applied to Skripal’s front door handle in Salisbury by operatives from Russia’s GRU military-intelligence service.

Skripal and his daughter were critically ill but survived; Sturgess died months later after unknowingly coming into contact with the same substance from a discarded perfume bottle.

The report, led by a former Supreme Court judge, found that the GRU team acted under direct orders from the highest level of the Russian state — concluding that none other than Putin himself must have authorised the attack.

The inquiry described the deployment and disposal of Novichok on a public street as “astonishingly reckless,” noting the foreseeability that innocent bystanders could be grievously harmed.

In response, the UK government announced sweeping sanctions targeting the entire GRU, as well as individual officers linked to the operation and other hostile actions, and summoned Russia’s ambassador to demand an explanation.

Dawn Sturgess’s family welcomed the inquiry’s confirmation of her innocence and culpability of foreign agents, saying they can finally lay her to rest — but they also called for deeper systemic changes to prevent a repetition of such tragedies.

The findings mark a decisive moment in the fight against state-sponsored chemical warfare, reaffirming London’s stance that use of banned weapons on its soil will not go unanswered and that perpetrators, even at the highest level, will be held to account.