MMSL 2018, 87(2):92-94 | DOI: 10.31482/mmsl.2018.012

NOVICHOK AGENTS - MYSTERIOUS POISONOUS SUBSTANCES FROM THE COLD WAR PERIODReview

Jiří Patočka ORCID...*
Department of Radiology, Toxicologyand Civil Protection, Faculty of Health and Social Studies, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic

On March 4, Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy who was convicted and imprisoned in Russia for working as a double agent, and his daughter were found unresponsive and slumped on a shopping-center bench in Salisbury, England. On 12 March 2018, British Prime Minister Theresa May said in Parliament that the two had been poisoned with Novichok, a “military grade” nerve agent developed by Russia, and she moved swiftly to retaliate against the government of President Vladimir Putin (BBC News, 12 March 2018). It was the first use of a nerve agent on European soil since World War II. Russian authorities have rejected May’s claims as nonsense. On 14 March 2018, the UK expelled 23 Russian diplomats after the Russian government refused to meet the UK's deadline of midnight on 13 March 2018 to give an explanation for the use of the substance...

Keywords: novichok; cold war; Skripal; military; nerve agent

Received: March 13, 2018; Revised: March 20, 2018; Prepublished online: March 23, 2018; Published: June 8, 2018  Show citation

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Patočka, J. (2018). NOVICHOK AGENTS - MYSTERIOUS POISONOUS SUBSTANCES FROM THE COLD WAR PERIOD. MMSL, 87(2), 92-94. doi: 10.31482/mmsl.2018.012
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