Henry Nicholls / Reuters
Russia’s spin operation has gone into overdrive after two more people in Britain became critically ill after being exposed to a Novichok nerve agent. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the BBC Russia “categorically denies” any involvement, while Sergei Zheleznyak, deputy speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, said the new poisoning incident in Britain was an attempt to spoil England soccer fans’ positive perception of Russia during the World Cup. Russia’s embassy to the Netherlands wrote Thursday: “How dumb (do) they think (Russia) is to use ‘again’ so-called ‘Novichok’ in the middle of the FIFA World Cup...The show must go on?" Meanwhile, the former head of the Russian intelligence agency, the FSB, has said that he believes that a former employee of a British chemical laboratory in Porton Down, near where the Novichok attacks took place, may be involved in poisoning in Salisbury and Amesbury. Nikolai Kovalev insists the latest illnesses prove the employee “continues his inhuman experiments on people.” You’ve almost got to admire their efforts...