The police officer poisoned with Novichok in the UK in March 2018 has sent a cryptic tweet about the Alexey Navalny case.
Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was hospitalized after coming into contact with the nerve agent after the attack on Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, in the south of England.
On Thursday, he responded to a tweet from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemning the Russian government and promising to “work with international partners to ensure justice is done.”
Bailey wrote: “I have so much that I want to say about this tweet. But I can’t, and I won’t.”
His wife also responded to Johnson’s comments. “Justice would be nice. Actions speak louder than words,” Sarah Bailey tweeted.
“It’s been almost 2 1/2 years after the events in Salisbury and there has been no justice for Dawn and her family and none for the Skripals, Charlie or us. And now it’s happened again,” she said.
“There appears to be no consequences for the culprits. The Government are right to condemn these actions, but in 2 1/2 years will it be forgotten about? That’s how it feels for us. #RIPDawn.”
Dawn Sturgess was a 44-year-old British woman who died after dabbing on what she believed to be perfume from a small bottle. It was in fact the Soviet-era nerve agent that had previously sickened Skripal and his daughter.
Her partner, Charlie Rowley, was also hospitalized but later discharged. The Skripals also survived the attack.
Bailey came into contact with Novichok while investigating the poisoning of Skripal, a former KGB agent who had ended up working for British intelligence. UK prosecutors said in 2018 that they had enough evidence to charge two Russians with conspiracy to murder, but they were not applying for extradition of the men because the Russian constitution did not permit it.
The poisoning of Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner who has been repeatedly jailed and spent long stretches in custody for organizing political protests, has disturbing parallels with both the Salisbury case and the political murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko using polonium-210 in London in 2006.
The Kremlin has consistently denied involvement in those high-profile attacks. But Western governments, independent researchers and Russia-watchers see a consistent pattern of Russian state involvement in assassinations both inside the country and abroad.
Navalny is currently being treated at a Berlin hospital after falling ill on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow. The German government announced Wednesday that he had been poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group, leading to condemnation from leaders around the world, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But US President Donald Trump — who has faced sharp criticism for his soft-handed approach to Russia — has been virtually silent on Navalny’s poisoning and the US response on Wednesday came from a National Security Council spokesperson.
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