July 5, 2018

LONDON — The British government on Thursday called on Russia to explain “exactly what has gone on” after a British couple fell into a coma following exposure to the same type of Soviet-era nerve agent used in March to poison a former spy and his daughter.

The couple in the latest incident was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent after “handling a contaminated item,” the Metropolitan Police said in a statement Thursday evening.

Investigators are trying to determine whether this was residual contamination from the March attack, when Sergei Skripal and his adult daughter, Yulia, were poisoned just eight miles away. British authorities linked that attack to the Russian government. Moscow denied any involvement.

Read more:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/alarm-in-britain-over-new-novichok-nerve-agent-poisoning/2018/07/05/d108205c-7fdb-11e8-a63f-7b5d2aba7ac5_story.html?utm_term=.a0d49c2bc85f