Putin Must Have Authorized Novichok Poisoning in Salisbury, UK Inquiry Finds

Putin Must Have Authorized Nerve Agent Attack in England, U.K. Inquiry FindsThe death of a British woman from Novichok poisoning was the result of a botched assassination attempt authorized at the highest level, an official report said on Thursday.A police cordon around the residential area where Dawn Sturgess was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent in Salisbury, England, in 2018.Credit...Jack Taylor/Getty ImagesDec. 4, 2025, 9:04 a.m. ETPresident Vladimir V. Putin of Russia “must have” authorized the nerve agent poisoning attack that accidentally killed a British woman in 2018, and he bears “moral responsibility” for her death, the chair of a British inquiry said on Thursday.Dawn Sturgess, 44, died four months after a team of agents from Russia’s military intelligence agency discarded Novichok, disguised as a bottle of perfume, in Salisbury, England, after using it to target the former Russian spy Sergei V. Skripal, who had passed secrets to Britain.In a report published on Thursday, a public inquiry into Ms. Sturgess’s death found that the bottle had been recovered by her partner, who then gave it to her as a present, unaware of its true contents. Ms. Sturgess died after applying the Novichok to her wrists, becoming the only victim killed by the attempted assassination.ImageDawn Sturgess, who died after accidentally applying Novichok to her wrists. Russian assassins had disguised the nerve agent in a bottle of perfume and discarded it in Salisbury. It was later found by her partner.Credit...Metropolitan PoliceDelivering his findings at a news conference, the inquiry’s chair, Anthony Hughes, a former judge in the Supreme Court in Britain, said the operation targeting Mr. Skripal “must have been authorized at the highest level, indeed by President Putin,” and was intended to “stand as a public demonstration of Russian power.”Mr. Hughes said that Ms. Sturgess, who had three children, was the victim of an “astonishingly reckless” attack that had put “an uncountable number of unconnected and innocent people” in danger.He found that there was a “direct causal link” between Ms. Sturgess’s death and the actions of the Russian intelligence officers who had carried out the mission, their superiors and Mr. Putin himself, adding, “They, and only they, bear moral responsibility for it.”The Russian government has always denied involvement in the attack on Mr. Skripal. Two men charged by British prosecutors gave an interview to the state-controlled Russia Today television channel in September 2018 during which they claimed to be sports supplement salesmen who had traveled to Salisbury because of its “internationally famous” cathedral.The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.SKIP Site IndexNewsHome PageU.S.WorldPoliticsNew YorkEducationSportsBusinessTechScienceWeatherThe Great ReadObituariesHeadwayVisual InvestigationsThe MagazineArtsBook ReviewBest Sellers Book ListDanceMoviesMusicPop CultureTelevisionTheaterVisual ArtsLifestyleHealthWellFoodRestaurant ReviewsLoveTravelStyleFashionReal EstateT MagazineOpinionToday's OpinionColumnistsEditorialsGuest EssaysOp-DocsLettersSunday OpinionOpinion VideoOpinion AudioMoreAudioGamesCookingWirecutterThe AthleticJobsVideoGraphicsTrendingLive EventsCorrectionsReader CenterTimesMachineThe Learning NetworkSchool of The NYTinEducationAccountSubscribeManage My AccountHome DeliveryGift SubscriptionsGroup SubscriptionsGift ArticlesEmail NewslettersNYT LicensingReplica EditionTimes Store