RETALIATION

U.S. Announces New Russia Sanctions Over Novichok Attack

The State Department said that Russia used chemical weapons against its own nationals.

The State Department on Wednesday announced new sanctions against Russia over the Novichok attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. The department said in a statement that Russia “used chemical or biological weapons in violation of international law or has used lethal chemical or biological weapons against its own nationals.” Sergei Skripal has been recovering since the March attack, and his daughter told Reuters that the recovery process has been “slow and extremely painful.” The statement did not refer to a second Novichok incident that killed 44-year-old Dawn Sturgess and made her boyfriend, Charlie Rowley, ill. Rowley went before the press recently, saying he picked up what appeared to be a perfume bottle in a public setting and gave it to Sturgess, not knowing it was a lethal nerve agent.