The police operation in Salisbury may still take several weeks. The British government is expelling 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to explain how a nerve agent was used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66 years, and daughter 33enne Yulia in Salisbury, Sunday 4 last March.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the chemical used in the attack was identified as part of a group of nerve agents developed by Russia during the Cold War, known as Novichok.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has declared that his government will also expel British diplomats.
Testimonials
Dominic Casciani shows us and tells us about the places where Sergei Skripal spent Sunday 4 March with his daughter:
- Yulia Skripal landed at London Heathrow airport with a flight from Russia to 14: 40 GMT of 3 March;
- the 4 March, at the 13: 40 GMT, Mr. Skripal and his daughter arrived at Sainsbury's upper-level parking lot in the center of Salisbury;
- the police said the couple went to The Mill pub before going to the Zizzi restaurant at 14: 20 GMT, staying until 15: 35 GMT;
- at the 16: 15 the GMT emergency services received the first report of an accident.
Police found the couple on a bench outside Zizzi in an "extremely serious condition"
A policeman who became ill after participating in the accident, Det Sgt Nick Bailey, was taken to hospital and is still in serious condition.
Of the 38 people who were seen in hospital in connection with the incident, 34 were discharged
Only Mr. Skripal, his daughter Yulia and Det Sgt Bailey remain in the hospital. A person is monitored on an outpatient basis but shows no sign of exposure
The investigation
The police treated the case as an attempted murder. Traces of nerve agent have been found at the Mulino and Zizzi, where the Skripals have spent the afternoon.
Eyewitness Jamie Paine said he saw a woman on a foaming bench at her mouth and her eyes were "wide open but completely white".
A doctor, who was shopping with her husband in the city center on Sunday, said that Mrs. Skripal was "slumped on her completely unconscious seat" and had lost control of her bodily functions.
Deputy Commissioner Mark Rowley, head of counter-terrorism operations, said the Skripals were "specifically targeted".
At 500 people who visited the pub or restaurant on Sunday or Monday were told to wash clothes and things to avoid any contamination.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England, pointed out that the risk of harm was "low", but there was some concern that prolonged exposure for weeks and months could cause health problems.
Specialized policemen with protective suits needed to secure the scene after the nerve attack.
15 policemen locations in England and Wales were sent to support the Wiltshire police.
Metropolitan police commissioner Neil Basu said that "the main objective" of the investigation, which will take many weeks, is to understand how poison was administered. It is hypothesized that it was smeared on the handles of the red Bmw of the Skripal.
The police have appealed to all the witnesses who saw the couple in the red BMW of Mr Skripal - plate HD09 WAO - between the 13: 00 GMT and the 13: 45 GMT of the day of the attack.
The agents have identified more than 240 witnesses and are examining over 380 trials.
Over 250 antiterrorism agents are involved in the investigation and about 180 military have been deployed to help remove vehicles and objects that may have been contaminated.
Staff from the Radiological and Nuclear Defense Nuclear Center at Porton Down in Wiltshire identified the nerve agent.
The police cordoned off a truck in Gillingham, Dorset, thinking they had recovered Mr. Skripal's car from Salisbury and the 15 in March, the streets around Mr. Bailey's home in Alderholt were closed as part of the decontamination operation.
Reactions of the countries involved
Theresa May announced the expulsion of 23 Russian diplomats from the United Kingdom.
The government asked for answers from the Russian leadership, but no explanations were provided.
Theresa May said that Russia responded to the situation with "sarcasm, contempt and challenge" and did not provide credible reasons.
He told MPs that the only conclusion to be drawn was that in which Russia was "guilty" of the attempted murders and the threat to the public safety of the British in Salisbury.
He added that there would be a "full and robust" response greater than the one made by Litvinenko's poisoning case.
He announced a series of sanctions including:
The expulsion of diplomatic 23, who must be removed within a week.
Ministers and the royal family will not participate in the FIFA World Cup in Russia next June.
Russian state resources will be frozen if there is evidence that they will be used as a weapon against citizens and residents of the United Kingdom
Controls on private, customs and freight flights will be increased. All high-level contacts planned between the United Kingdom and Russia will be suspended.
The retractation of the state invitation to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
Ms. May added that there were other measures ready to be implemented if the United Kingdom were to continue to face "the provocation of Russia".
France, Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom announced in a joint statement that Russian involvement was "the only plausible explanation".
Il UN Security Council held an emergency meeting at the request of the United Kingdom, where British deputy ambassador Jonathan Allen said that Russia used "such a horrible weapon to be banned forever".
At the meeting, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said: "The credibility of this security council will not survive if we fail to certify Russia responsible."
The Russian Foreign Ministry has defined the accusations of Theresa May as "crazy" and the Russian embassy in Britain has described the order for diplomats to leave as "unacceptable, unjustified and short-sighted".
A spokesperson for Vladimir Putin he said that the Russian president will respond in kind to the expulsion from the United Kingdom of Russian diplomats.
There were conflicting reports that the country's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, told the Russian media that British diplomats would be expelled from Russia.
Mr. Lavrov said that the UK "plays with foreign policy" and does not take into account an international pact on chemical weapons.
He said that if the United Kingdom sends a formal request for an explanation to Moscow under the Chemical Weapons Convention, Russia will reply within the deadline of 10 days.
Russia has also asked to receive a sample of the used nerve agent.
The Russian Defense Ministry has called Gavin Williamson, the UK Defense Secretary, an "old vulgar harpy" after saying that Russia should "leave and shut up".
Major General Igor Konashenkov said that Williamson's "extreme level of intellectual impotence" has confirmed that the London accusations have led to nothing.
"Long ago, Britain became a welcoming nest not only for the world's turncoats, but also for all kinds of headquarters for the production of false scandals," he added.
Meanwhile, a suspect in the 2006 assassination of former FSB official Alexander Litvinenko told the Russian news agency Interfax that the determination of responsibility must be made by "a serious expert analysis".
Andrei Lugovoi, who is now a Russian MP, said: "Any chemist or physicist will tell you that to determine the involvement or non involvement of a country, there must be at least serious specialized analyzes conducted by a serious and level expert.
"When such statements are made within a few days (of the incident), the only thing that shows is the irresponsibility of the person who makes them. It can also indicate that finding the truth is not the purpose. "
Who is Skripal?
Colonel Skripal is a retired Russian military intelligence officer, convicted of having passed the identity of Russian secret agents working undercover in Europe to the UK's intelligence secret service, MI6.
He was jailed for 13 years in Russia in the 2006.
In July, 2010 was one of four inmates released by Moscow in exchange for 10 Russian spies arrested by the FBI. Later he flew to the United Kingdom.
According to BBC Newsnight's editor, Mark Urban, Mr. Skripal has lectured at military academies in recent years, offering insights into the Russian military intelligence agency, the GRU.
A friend of the college, Vladimir Svyatski, described Mr. Skripal as "very active, with a positive and creative attitude".
A former colleague, Oleg Ivanov, told the BBC that it was "the life and soul of the party".
Yulia Skripal
His daughter, Yulia, had left for the UK from her Moscow home to visit her father, the relatives told the BBC.
"She told me she liked everything in the UK, childhood friend Irina Petrova said. "They had a great place and a wonderful house."
She had an "excellent" relationship with her father, Ms. Petrova said, and she was the "perfect girl", had excellent grades in school.
Miss Skripal, who according to friends has worked for multinationals including Nike and PepsiCo, "always smiled, just like her mother," added Mrs. Petrova.
The tomb of Liudmila Skripal, the wife of Sergei Skripal, is in the London Road Cemetery in Salisbury
His son, Alexander Skripal, died at 43 years last July in St. Petersburg due to liver failure. He is buried in Salisbury, near his mother.
Mr. Skripal's family denies having worked for MI6 and believes that the espionage case has been artfully architected by Russia.
Already successful in the United Kingdom
The possibility that an unknown substance is involved has led to the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko's 2006.
The former Russian intelligence officer died in London after drinking tea cooked with a radioactive substance.
A public inquiry concluded that his murder was probably carried out with the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A survey by Buzzfeed News claims that there have been at least 14 deaths in the United Kingdom that US officials charge Russia.