Test samples' results of UK spy poisoning attack expected next week: OPCW

UNITED NATIONS: Results of test samples collected from a former Russian spy and his daughter, exposed to a nerve-agent in the UK, are expected to be received by early next week, the head of international chemical weapons watchdog has said.

The samples were collected from Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who have been hospitalised since when they were found on a public bench in the English city of Salisbury in early March, after reported exposure to a toxic chemical.

The UN will produce its report after the test samples will be received, Ahmet Uzumcu, Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) told the body's Executive Council.

"Once the results of the analyses of the samples are received, the Secretariat will produce a report on the basis of these results and will transmit a copy of this report to the United Kingdom," Uzumcu said.

"The UK has expressed its wish to be as transparent as possible and has already indicated its preference for disclosure of the report to other States Parties," he added.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the UK said that it was "highly likely" that Russia was behind the incident using a deadly nerve-agent.

The accusations were met by a firm denial by Russia, which as a State Party to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), requested the Executive Council meeting.

The UK sent the OPCW samples of the nerve agent within days of the incident.

According to OPCW, samples were also collected from a third individual – a police official – reportedly exposed to the chemical.

The samples were sealed and brought to the OPCW laboratory on March 23.

An OPCW expert team was deployed to the UK at the country's request seeking technical assistance in identifying the nature of the toxic chemical reportedly used.

In his update, Uzumcu also said that OPCW team worked independently and is not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities and that no State Party is involved in the technical work that is being carried out by the Secretariat.

The OPCW is the implementing body of the Convention, which came into force in 1997 and outlaws the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors.

The Donald Trump administration ordered the expulsion of 60 Russians from the US, following similar actions taken by other countries in the wake of the allegation by the United Kingdom that Russia was behind the attack using the deadly nerve-agent that left Skripal and his daughter hospitalised in critical condition.

Of the 60 expelled, 12 were intelligence operatives from the Russian Mission to the United Nations who have been accused of abusing their privilege of residence in the United States.