The director of the UK surveillance agency GCHQ, Jeremy Fleming, has abandoned the organisation’s usual caution to publicly accuse the Kremlin of reckless and unacceptable behaviour over the Salisbury nerve agent attack. He was speaking before the release of the results of an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons into the attack. Fleming devoted much of his 30-minute speech to the subject of Russia, ranging from Salisbury to cyber-attacks on the UK. He also made a fleeting reference to chemical attacks in Syria, without adding the “alleged” caveat used by the government. The UK case against Russia is based partly on the use of the nerve agent novichok, but also on undisclosed intelligence.

Source: The Guardian April 12, 2018 09:16 UTC