‘Neither Soviet Union, nor Russia perform research codenamed Novichok’

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said neither the Soviet Union nor Russia has ever carried out research to develop a substance codenamed Novichok.

"Neither in the territory of the Soviet Union, nor in the Soviet era, nor in the Russian Federation has ever been performed research named directly or codenamed as Novichok," she said, TASS reported.

London used the codename Novichok for a military grade nerve agent that poisoned former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal, who was sentenced in Russia for spying for the United Kingdom, so as to evoke associations with Moscow, Zakharova said on Rossiya’24 TV channel on Saturday.

"The UK prime minister does not possess a formula. She is using a codename which instantaneously evokes memories of Russia, evokes associations with something Russian, everything that must draw our country in the spotlight immediately," she stated, adding that "And the name began circulating in the media right afterwards.".

Nobody has information about either whereabouts of former GRU military intelligence Colonel Sergei Skripal, exposed to a nerve agent on March 4, or his condition, Zakharova said.

"No-one, but the people who have classified all the information in the United Kingdom, are aware of his condition. No-one knows where he is and what the matter is with him," she said.

The United Kingdom has handed no information to Russia on circumstances behind poisoning of Sergei Skripal, the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman underlined.

"Russia has never received any information from London through any channel. Either an international agency’s channel or any diplomatic channel," she stressed.

EA