British trace found in poisoning of Kim Jong-un's brother
Analysis of the substance used to poison British spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury does not indicate Russian involvement in this incident.
Igor Rybalchenko, head of the chemical-analytical control laboratory of the scientific center of the Russian Ministry of Defense, spoke about this in an interview with Moskovsky Komsomolets, answering the question of how he felt about the statement of British officials that since Novichok was first produced in the USSR, then it is Russia’s fault in the Skripal case is obvious.
“I’m sure the specialist will treat this as a stupid joke. Here's a direct analogy: last year, Kim Jong-un's brother was killed in Kuala Lumpur. They hit him with a large dose of the nerve toxin VX, and the person died in agony within 15-20 minutes. It is the most toxic of the organic phosphorus substances. Do you know where it was first received? In England, in the post-war years. But because of this, after the murder of the brother of the leader of the DPRK, no one pointed a finger in the direction of Great Britain. They say that the British used chemical weapons against Malaysia, and that the traces of the crime lead to England. Exactly the same case with Salisbury.
Or this. It has been proven that sarin was used in Syria. It is still not known, however, who did it. But at the same time, no one points a finger at Germany, where this sarin was first synthesized,” the expert said.
At the same time, he clarified that when analyzing samples of a substance taken from a crime scene, it is impossible to unambiguously indicate the country of manufacture or even the specific chemical plant where the substance was produced.
“All these substances are synthesized from intermediates that are commercially available. They are all purchased from the same commercial system, such as Sigma-Aldrich, and when synthesized, they produce a substance that cannot be determined where it was synthesized. Therefore, it is simply not correct to say that traces from Salisbury necessarily lead to Russia. It is impossible to trace the origin of the substance geographically. It does not have any production markers,” Rybalchenko emphasized.
He also recalled that the substance that everyone is talking about - A234 Novichok - was named by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who was forced to admit that Great Britain has samples of this substance.
“But these are not all owners of this substance. Back in 1998, a record of the synthesis of a substance analogous to A234 was posted in the analytical database of the US National Institute of Standards, which is located in New York. Data from its spectral analysis were presented. The developer has been named - the US military research center. This means that the substance was synthesized in the USA at least three or four years before it was included in the world-famous catalog.
Without the presence of a substance, it is impossible to carry out its spectral analysis. This database includes the spectral characteristics of all newly synthesized organic compounds, regardless of the purpose for which they are made. Today the database contains information about 300 thousand organic compounds.
True, there was almost a detective story with the A234 analogue. From the directory, which is only expanding by including new substances obtained as a result of organic synthesis, the 1998 entry about this substance suddenly disappeared...
It is possible that some influential structures in the United States decided not to expose this chemical substance once again. But the train, as they say, has left. Now no one can refute the fact that the United States has possessed substance A234 at least since 1998,” the publication’s interlocutor said.
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