Russia has a case to answer over Navalny poisoning, says Dominic Raab

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was difficult to look beyond Russianstate involvement in the alleged Novichok poisoning of Kremlin critic AlexeiNavalny.

Asked whether he thought the Russian state poisoned Mr Navalny, theCabinet minister told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: “I think it’s verydifficult to come up with a plausible alternative explanation based onRussia’s track record … of using it, Salisbury, based on the difficulty ofgetting hold of, let alone deploying Novichok as it’s such a dangeroussubstance.

“As I said, the case to answer is there for Russia and we need, Ithink, through the OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of ChemicalWeapons), an investigation and Russia needs to co-operate fully.

“What’s clearalso is that it can’t just say ‘this is a domestic issue, it is just ourinternal affairs’.

“The use of chemical weapons in this kind of context ispure gangsterism and Russia does have responsibility never to use it as agovernment, and second of all to make sure no-one else can use it within itsterritory.”