“Basically, can one thrown perfume bottle show how ruthless the government is the same way other evidence does? Moreover, basically, the UK inquiry found that Putin was morally responsible for Dawn Sturgess’s death in the same 2018 Novichok poisoning case. Basically, secret intelligence and months of witness statements show the same thing – the Kremlin directly ordered the killing as part of an assassination attempt on former double agent Sergei Skripal.
Further, we are seeing that this attack was not only a single event but part of a bigger plan by Russia’s secret military spy service GRU. This incident actually shocked people in Salisbury and definitely made relations between UK and Russia much worse, while also showing weak points in the country’s security. As per the inquiry and related investigations, here are nine key findings regarding the scale, intent, and consequences of this deadly plot.
1. Putin’s Direct Authorisation of the Skripal Attack
Also, basically, the inquiry chair Lord Anthony Hughes said the same thing clearly – President Putin must have approved the operation to kill Sergei Skripal from the top level, and Russia basically wanted to show its power to people at home and around the world. Intelligence reports showed that a GRU unit put Novichok poison on Skripal’s door handle, which Hughes said was very dangerous for ordinary people. This act itself was extremely careless and could have harmed many civilians further.
2. Dawn Sturgess as Collateral Damage
As per the investigation, Sturgess accidentally used a fake perfume bottle containing Novichok poison four months after the Skripal attack. Regarding the bottle, it was left behind by the attackers and she did not know it was dangerous. Within minutes, she surely started having severe seizures; moreover, when the medical team reached, her brain damage was already too serious to treat. We are seeing Hughes say that Putin and all others in the Skripal case were only responsible for her death in a wrong way. As per the findings, the bottle had poison that could kill thousands of people, showing how big the danger was regarding this threat.
3. GRU Unit 29155’s Global Footprint
Basically, Bellingcat found that GRU Unit 29155 did the same type of attacks in Salisbury, Czechia, Bulgaria, and other places in Europe to create trouble. Also, people in this special group, including Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, have actually received Russia’s top awards. They definitely got the highest honors from the Russian government. We are seeing their work shows a long-time plan to break enemies’ power, only focusing on stopping Ukraine from getting weapons during the Donbas fight.
4. The Novichok Threat Profile
Novichok agents are 5-10 times stronger than VX itself and further cause quick symptoms from small pupils to breathing failure. We are seeing that these weapons were made under the Soviet Foliant programme, where they can mix only two safe parts together to make a deadly poison. As per the Chemical Weapons Convention, these agents are banned regarding their use for secret killings because they stay strong and last long.
5. Failures in Protecting Settled Defectors
As per the inquiry findings, Skripal’s risk was wrongly considered low regarding his safety after the 2010 spy exchange. He refused a new identity, which was the only step that could have stopped the attack further. This measure itself might have prevented the incident. Security checks were surely not done regularly, even though UK-Russia relations were getting worse. Moreover, Skripal was in contact with European intelligence services during this time.
6. Salisbury’s Civilian and Emergency Impact
The poisoning incidents surely caused terrible damage to Salisbury city, as police barriers blocked many areas and people became afraid to touch anything in public places. Moreover, residents lived in constant fear while parts of their city remained cut off from normal life. As per the medical reports, emergency workers got confused regarding nerve agent and opioid symptoms, but treatment could not have saved Sturgess anyway. Wiltshire Police actually said sorry later because they definitely called her a “well-known drug user” by mistake, which really upset her family.
7. UK’s Diplomatic and Security Respons
The Salisbury incident further caused the biggest diplomatic expulsions between East and West countries since the Cold War itself. Basically after checking everything, UK punished the same Russian spy agency and called their ambassador for questioning. Prime Minister Keir Starmer actually promised to fight against Putin’s harsh government and definitely said these punishments will help protect Europe’s safety. Intelligence sharing and counter-terror policing capabilities have further expanded significantly. The system itself has grown much stronger since then.
8. Adaptation of Russian Covert Tactic
After the Salisbury incident, we are seeing Russia using other people like Bulgarian citizens in the UK to do spying and damage work only. We are seeing that this throwaway-agent method, along with hiring only small-time criminals for fire-setting, creates different detection problems compared to regular spying work. Moreover, as per Counter Terrorism Police reports, work regarding hostile state threats has increased five times since 2018.
9. Lessons for Chemical Incident Preparedness
Moreover, the Novichok case surely shows that we need quick cleaning methods to remove dangerous substances. Moreover, such protocols must be ready to use without delay. UK emergency services surely use dry absorbent materials as their first response to reduce exposure risks. Moreover, this Initial Operational Response helps manage situations before specialist teams arrive at the scene. We are seeing that this method from ORCHIDS research only helps avoid the wash-in problem that can make organophosphate absorption worse in the body. Basically, these steps are now the same as what the country uses to get ready for chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear threats.
Moreover, basically, the inquiry says Vladimir Putin is morally responsible for Dawn Sturgess’s death, calling it part of the same deliberate campaign by the state to intimidate and destabilize. This case has surely caused great human suffering, but it has also changed how the UK thinks about security and shown how Russia can adapt its secret operations. Moreover, it has made clear that countries must be ready to face chemical weapon attacks. After what happened in Salisbury, we are seeing that governments can use violence anywhere they want, and ordinary people only become targets for no clear reason.”
