UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Friday it was "overwhelmingly likely" that Russian President Vladimir Putin personally gave the order to use a nerve agent to attack a former double spy in what's the most direct accusation yet against Russia's leader.
"A lethal dose ... and the person will die immediately. If [the dosage] is less, [the person] will go through very tortuous scenes. They will start convulsions, and stop breathing and then lose vision, and there are other problems -- vomiting, everything. It's a terrible scene."
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a harsh condemnation of Russia following a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in the United Kingdom last week, going further than the White House's response stopping short of pinning blame for the attack on Moscow.
Britain's National Security Council met Monday to discuss the latest intelligence on the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, as pressure mounts on UK Prime Minister Theresa May over the alleged involvement of Moscow in the attack.
Traces of the nerve agent used on a former Russian spy and his daughter were detected at a restaurant and pub in Salisbury, southern England.
Britain's home secretary and government ministers held an emergency meeting Saturday as investigators probe the attempt to kill a former Russian double agent and his daughter using a rare nerve agent.
The investigation into the nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in the UK has broadened as police revealed that 21 people had received medical attention in the aftermath of the incident.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were deliberately poisoned by a nerve agent, UK police say, significantly increasing the likelihood that a foreign state was behind the attack.
