Turkey condemns poison attack on ex-spy in UK

ANKARA

Turkey on March 26 condemned the poisoning of a former Russian spy in the U.K., calling the incident a “crime against humanity.” 

“Turkey considers the use of chemical agent as a crime against humanity and views the attack in the U.K. as such and condemns it,” Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Hami Aksoy said in a statement on March 26.

“Turkey joined the North Atlantic Council statement on March 14. Turkey’s views on this attack were also expressed in the OSCE, the Conference on Disarmament and the Council of Europe,” he said.

Calling for an investigation into the incident, Aksoy also said the perpetrators should be brought to justice as soon as possible.

On March 4, former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious in the southern English city of Salisbury. British officials have placed blame squarely on Russia, a charge Vladimir Putin adamantly denies.

London has said the attack was carried out using a Soviet-era Cold War nerve agent from a family called Novichok.

Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a 2010 spy exchange between the U.S. and Russia. Before the exchange, he was serving 13 years in prison for leaking information to the British intelligence.

Last week, following an EU summit in Brussels, the U.K., Germany, and France reaffirmed the Russian state was responsible for the nerve agent poisoning of Skripal and his daughter.