The wife of a police officer who nearly died after investigating the Salisbury poisonings said ‘actions speak louder than words’ in response to a tweet by the Prime Minister.
Boris Johnson joined world leaders in demanding answers from Russia amid claims Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned using Novichok – which was also used in the 2018 attack in Wiltshire that left one woman dead.
Today Downing street warned there will be ‘severe consequences’ for the people behind the alleged Novichok poisoning.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson described the use of the deadly nerve agent as ‘outrageous’, adding: ‘We have seen first-hand the deadly consequences of Novichok in the UK.
‘The Russian government must now explain what happened to Mr Navalny – we will work with international partners to ensure justice is done.’
The tweet was shared by Sarah Bailey, the wife of Wiltshire Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey who almost died after he was exposed to the substance while responding to the 2018 attack.
Boris Johnson joined world leaders in demanding answers from Russia amid claims Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was poisoned using Novichok
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny is pictured at a rally in Moscow, February 29
Mr Johnson described the use of the deadly nerve agent as ‘outrageous’, adding: ‘We have seen first-hand the deadly consequences of Novichok in the UK’
Sharing the tweet on Wednesday evening, she wrote: ‘Justice would be nice. Actions speak louder than words.’
Her husband also shared the Prime Minister’s tweet, with a short message which read: ‘I have so much that I want to say about this tweet. But I can’t, and I won’t.’
He has spoken previously of ‘still trying to pick up the pieces’ of his life after becoming seriously ill from the poisoning, and losing his family home and possessions due to contamination fears.
Det Sgt Bailey was the first person to enter the home of Sergei Skripal after the Russian former double agent and his daughter Yulia were found poisoned on a park bench in Salisbury.
The tweet was shared by Sarah Bailey, the wife of Wiltshire Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey (both pictured) who almost died after he was exposed to the substance while responding to the 2018 attack
Sharing the tweet on Wednesday evening, she wrote: ‘Justice would be nice. Actions speak louder than words’
He recovered after a two-week stay in intensive care, during which his wife and two daughters feared he would die.
He made a third attempt to return to work in June this year, describing how he ‘couldn’t deal with being in a police environment’ after efforts to return in September 2018 and in January 2019.
The Skripals also recovered, but local woman Dawn Sturgess, 44, died months after the incident, having picked up the discarded perfume bottle used by Russian agents to hold the Novichok in nearby town Amesbury.
The Soviet-era chemical weapon made headlines again this week after it was revealed Mr Navalny, a politician and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight back to Moscow from Siberia on August 20.
He was transferred to Berlin for treatment, with the German government saying testing at one of their military laboratories showed ‘proof without doubt of a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group’.
The 44-year-old remains on a ventilator in intensive care.
Britain has now said the Kremlin ‘has a clear case to answer’ while NATO demanded a ‘full and transparent’ investigation after a German military lab found that Navalny was poisoned with Novichok.
Angela Merkel is now facing pressure to get tough with Vladimir Putin, with questions growing about the future of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
One German lawmaker said ‘toughness is the only language Putin understands’ – suggesting that the Kremlin had targeted Navalny as a show of force to intimidate protesters in Belarus.
Navalny remains in a coma at a Berlin hospital after he collapsed on a flight in Siberia two weeks ago, becoming the latest in a long line of Russian dissidents to be poisoned in mysterious circumstances.
Russia denies involvement and accused German politicians of ‘taking the job away from medics’ with ‘absolute unscrupulousness’ last night.
Merkel said last night that the findings at the German military lab had raised ‘some very serious questions that only Russia can and must answer’.
‘It is certain that Alexei Navalny is the victim of a crime,’ she added. ‘He was meant to be silenced and I condemn this in the strongest possible terms.’
UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the Kremlin ‘has a clear case to answer’ and ‘must tell the truth about what happened’, while prime minister Boris Johnson called the attack ‘outrageous’.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned a ‘despicable and cowardly act’, while French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced the attack as ‘shocking and irresponsible.’
‘The Russian people have a right to express their views peacefully without fear of retribution of any kind, and certainly not with chemical agents,’ said US National Security Council spokesman John Ullyot.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny – pictured, centre, shortly before he fell ill on August 20 – is in a coma at a German hospital after being poisoned with Novichok
German chancellor Angela Merkel (pictured) is under pressure to get tough with Vladimir Putin after a military lab found evidence that Navalny was poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent
Navalny being taken to an ambulance in Omsk (left) after falling ill on a plane following a trip to an airport cafe (right) where his friends suspect he could have been poisoned
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg condemned the ‘shocking’ use of a military-grade nerve agent which, he said, made ‘a full and transparent’ investigation by Russia even more urgent.
Italy’s foreign ministry and Canadian foreign minister Francois-Philippe Champagne also condemned Navalny’s poisoning.
The Western outrage has raised the prospect of new sanctions against Russia and thrown the Nord Stream 2 pipeline into fresh doubt.
Construction of the 750-mile pipeline under the Baltic Sea is nearly finished but it needs to complete a final 75-mile stretch in Danish waters.
Germany’s best-selling newspaper, Bild, wrote in an editorial today that ‘if the German government does not cancel the construction of Nord Stream 2, we will soon be financing Putin’s Novichok attacks’.
Navalny is in a medically induced coma at the Charite hospital in Berlin (pictured on Wednesday)
A plane carrying Navalny arrives at Berlin’s Tegel Airport on August 22 after the Russian opposition leader was airlifted to Germany for specialist treatment
Navalny’s allies have pointed the finger at Russian president Vladimir Putin (pictured) after the opposition leader fell ill, but the Kremlin has dismissed the claims
The two men accused of trying to assassinate Sergei Skripal with the same nerve agent were filmed on CCTV walking through Salisbury in March 2018
German lawmaker Norbert Roettgen, a member of Merkel’s CDU party, called for a ‘European response’ said continuing with the gas pipeline would be ‘maximum confirmation for Putin that his policies are right’.
Going further than Merkel, Roettgen said he did not believe that Novichok could have been administered without the Kremlin’s knowledge.
‘We need a clear and European response. It needs toughness against Russia, because that’s the only language Putin understands,’ he told ZDF television.
He also suggested that Navalny’s poisoning had been meant to intimidate protesters in Belarus who are demanding the resignation of the Putin-backed dictator.
‘This is the simultaneous intimidation of [Russia’s] own population and also that in Belarus,’ he said.
The Kremlin has hinted at using military force to shore up Alexander Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus, which has faced mass protests since a disputed election last month.
Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference and a former German ambassador to Washington, said gestures such as the expulsion of diplomats may not be enough.
‘If we want to send a clear message to Moscow with our partners, then economic relations must be on the agenda and that means the NordStream 2 project must not be left out,’ said Ischinger.
Germany’s Green party, which is currently second to Merkel’s party in the polls, is also calling for the pipeline to be scrapped.