Nine Russian people and entities were sanctioned by Britain on Monday, including two scientific institutes it says helped develop toxins used against Alexei Navalny in 2024 and Sergei Skripal in 2018.
The Foreign Office said the targets were involved in creating epibatidine used to poison Navalny in an Arctic penal colony and Novichok used in the Salisbury attack that left Skripal and his daughter seriously ill and killed Dawn Sturgess.
Yvette Cooper called Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons a violation of international law and a direct threat to global security, framing the measures as part of a broader response to Moscow’s conduct.
That wider tension was visible the same day in the Arctic, where Britain said two UK F-35s intercepted a Russian Bear-F aircraft after it flew low and close to HMS Prince of Wales and dropped sonobuoys nearby.