Britain on Wednesday said it was closer to identifying the substance used in the suspected poisoning of a former Russian double-agent, as Moscow accused politicians and journalists of whipping up anti-Russian sentiment. Interior minister Amber Rudd said police "know more about the substance" after chairing an emergency government meeting to discuss the case of Sergei Skripal, but did not release any details of what progress had been made.
She also called for "cool heads" over the suspected poisoning, which is already being linked with Russia by British politicians and media. The 66-year-old Russian, who moved to Britain in a 2010 spy swap, is in a critical condition in hospital along with his daughter Yulia after they collapsed on a bench outside a shopping centre in the southwestern English city of Salisbury on Sunday.
"We need to keep a cool head," said Rudd, adding that investigators would respond to "evidence, not to rumour". Police say they are keeping an open mind about what happened, but Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Tuesday pointed the finger at Russia. He noted the "echoes" with the 2006 poisoning in London of former Russian spy and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko, which Britain has blamed on Moscow.
The Kremlin hit back on Wednesday, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova telling reporters the story "was straight away used to boost an anti-Russian campaign in the media". Zakharova earlier said Johnson's comments were "wild". National counter-terrorism police have taken control of the case, citing the "unusual circumstances", and opened a new crime scene on Wednesday in the nearby town of Amesbury. "The focus at this time is to establish what has caused these people to become critically ill," said the head of the unit, assistant commissioner Mark Rowley.
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