World Bulletin / News Desk

Russia had "nothing to do" with the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, said the country’s ambassador to the EU.

Speaking to BBC, Vladimir Chizhov said there were “no stockpiles whatsoever” of nerve agents left in Russia, adding that his country had stopped producing chemical weapons in 1992.

Russia destroyed all of its stockpiles last year, he added.

Chezhov claimed that some number of scientists responsible for creating some nerve agents "have been whisked out of Russia and are currently residing in the U.K."

The Russian ambassador also hinted that the U.K. might have had the nerve agent before the Salisbury incident.

"When you have a nerve agent or whatever, you check it against certain samples that you retain in your laboratories.

"And Porton Down, as we now all know, is the largest military facility in the United Kingdom that has been dealing with chemical weapons research.

"And it's actually only eight miles from Salisbury."