'Porton Down' lab admits Salisbury nerve agent CAN'T be traced to Russia

Russia will take its complaint over the Salisbury nerve agent attack to The Hague the day after the Porton Down military research facility said it could not trace the agent's precise source. The Kremlin has called the extraordinary meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to "address the situation around allegations of non-compliance" with the chemical weapons convention made by the UK against Moscow.

The Foreign Office accused Russia of attempting to undermine the work of the OPCW and engaging in "another diversionary tactic". It comes a day after the head of Porton Down said his scientists have not verified that the nerve agent used in Salisbury came from Russia.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "Russia has called this meeting to undermine the work of the OPCW, which, fully in accordance with the chemical weapons convention, is providing the UK with technical assistance and evaluation through independent analysis of samples from the Salisbury attack. Of course, there is no requirement in the chemical weapons convention for the victim of a chemical weapons attack to engage in a joint investigation with the likely perpetrator. *This Russian initiative is yet again another diversionary tactic, intended to undermine the work of the OPCW in reaching a conclusion*."