“Putin himself approved the operation in March 2018.”Image: keystone
Dec 4, 2025, 3:06 p.mDec 4, 2025, 3:06 p.m
According to an investigation, Russian President Vladimir Putin bears “moral responsibility” for the death of British woman Dawn Sturgess after an attack with the nerve agent Novichok. In response, the British government sanctioned the Russian military intelligence service Gru at midday. Britain will always “stand against Putin’s brutal regime and call his murderous machine what it is,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Putin himself approved the operation in March 2018, which targeted Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the British city of Salisbury, the Foreign Ministry said. Both barely survived the poison attack. A total of three Russian intelligence officers are held responsible; two are said to have carried out the attack.
“Her death was unnecessary and arbitrary”
Sturgess, who was uninvolved, died in hospital three months later at the age of 44 after she and her partner accidentally came into contact with the nerve agent through a perfume bottle. According to the report, it is very likely that this very perfume bottle was used to contaminate the door handle of Skripal’s front door. The bottle was then “recklessly” thrown away.
Sturgess was “completely innocent” and a victim of the “cruel” actions of others, said the chair of the inquiry, Anthony Hughes. “Her death was unnecessary and arbitrary.” The aim of the independent investigation, which cost almost ten million euros, was also to clarify whether Skripal, who came to Great Britain via a prisoner exchange in 2010, should have been better protected. (sda/dpa)