DISINFO: Symptoms show: the Skripals were not poisoned by Novichok
SUMMARY
The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in 2018 was caused by an overdose of the synthetic opioid fentanyl and not the phosphorus toxic agent Novichok, according to the developer of Novichok. There was no reason to believe they had phosphorus poisoning. Remember the interview with Skripal’s daughter? She had a scar on her throat. This is called a tracheotomy. It is performed when all the muscles relax like fentanyl’s overdose, and not contract like after the poisoning with phosphorus agents.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury, UK. Moscow's involvement in the poisoning has been proven via a thorough investigation. The British Police have presented a solid chain of evidence on the Skripal case, with pictures, connecting the suspects to the locations in the case. Parts of the material have been released to the public. The evidence was sufficient to charge two Russian nationals, Anatoliy Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin with the attack on the Skripals, both Russian military intelligence operatives from the GRU, who travelled to the UK using fake names and documents. Following this attack, the United Kingdom notified the OPCW, invited them to confirm the identity of the substance involved, and briefed members of the Security Council. The OPCW’s independent expert laboratories confirmed the UK’s identification of the Russian produced Novichok nerve agent, specifically the purity of the toxin while emphasising that the OPCW team “worked independently and was not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities. No State Party was involved in the technical work carried out by the Technical Secretariat," to ensure the integrity of the examinations and investigations. Addressing the claim that "tracheotomy is done when all the muscles do not contract like after phosphorus agent poisonings, but relax like after fentanyl's overdose", the Insider reminds that, according to medical reference book "Medical bulletin", the symptoms of fentanyl's overdose are actually the opposite - it is the muscles' contraction and in general the symptoms are similar to those after the phosphorus agent Novichok's poisoning. The expert referred to in the original article is also often quoted as saying that Navalny would have died if it had been Novichok. He indeed has a history of working with the nerve poison. In 2000 Rink was indicted for illegally selling Novichok from his garage, an action that resulted in the first deaths from nerve agent, in 1995. His criminal case was later dismissed on secret grounds and he received a one-year suspended sentence. See similar cases claiming that there was no evidence of Russia's involvement in the poisoning of Skripals and that Russia is accused of US election meddling and the Skripals’ poisoning without proof.