How 7-Year Investigation Into UK Novichok Poisonings Led Back to Kremlin

The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry report says Novichok attack in 2018 was carried out on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, not ’staged' by Britain.

Undated images of a perfume bottle (Left) containing the deadly nerve agent Novichok—and the fake packaging (Right) it came in—which killed Dawn Sturgess in Salisbury, England, on July 8, 2018. Metropolitan Police/Dawn Sturgess Inquiry

An attack in 2018 using the nerve agent Novichok—which targeted a former Russian agent, Sergei Skripal, but unwittingly killed 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess—was carried out on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a report published at the conclusion of a 14-month public inquiry.

The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry published its report on Dec. 4, and the chair, Lord Anthony Hughes, ruled out both a “staged attack” by Britain and an initiative taken by rogue Russian agents.