Poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal
A 2018 Novichok nerve-agent attack in Salisbury, England, that poisoned former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.
Acetylcholinesterase inhibitor: A substance that blocks acetylcholinesterase, disrupting the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Novichok poisoning belongs to this broader class of toxic mechanisms.
Salisbury: A cathedral city in Wiltshire, England. The poisoning occurred in Salisbury, where the Skripals were found critically ill.
Dawn Sturgess: A British woman who died in 2018 after exposure to Novichok from a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury. Her death was linked to agent left behind after the attack on the Skripals.
Litvinenko poisoning: The 2006 assassination of former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko in London using radioactive polonium-210. It was an earlier poisoning of a former Russian intelligence figure on British soil.
Attribution of the Salisbury poisoning: The process of determining who ordered or carried out the 2018 attack on the Skripals. British authorities blamed Russia, which denied involvement, making attribution central to the case.
Cholinergic crisis: A potentially life-threatening state caused by excessive acetylcholine activity at nerve junctions. Nerve-agent exposure can trigger this crisis, requiring urgent medical treatment.
GRU: Russia’s military intelligence service, formally known as the Main Directorate of the General Staff. British authorities attributed the operation to officers working for Russia’s military intelligence service.
Amesbury poisoning: The 2018 Novichok poisoning of Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley in Amesbury, England. It revealed that material from the Salisbury operation remained dangerous months later.
Khan Shaykhun chemical attack: A 2017 sarin attack on Khan Shaykhun, Syria, that killed and injured civilians. It provides a contrast between a battlefield chemical attack and a targeted poisoning in a British city.
Extradition: The formal transfer of a person from one jurisdiction to another for prosecution or punishment. The suspects’ presence in Russia has limited the prospect of their prosecution in Britain.