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Allies Have 'Full Confidence' In UK Assessment Of Novichok Suspects

Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov (Image: Metropolitan police)

Two Russian men suspected of poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia in March. (Image: Metropolitan police)

Britain has the "full confidence" of world leaders in their assessment that two suspects for the Salisbury poisonings were members of Russia's GRU intelligence service.

US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau issued a joint statement with Mrs May agreeing with the British assessment that the operation was "almost certainly approved at a senior government level" in Moscow.

The two men alleged to have been behind the March nerve agent poisoning - Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - have been identified by the UK as members of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.

In the joint statement, the leaders said:

"We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level."

They added that the announcement about the suspects "further strengthens our intent to continue to disrupt together the hostile activities of foreign intelligence networks on our territories, uphold the prohibition of chemical weapons, protect our citizens and defend ourselves from all forms of malign state activity directed against us and our societies".

Russian suspects — Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov were identified by police as suspects over the Salisbury nerve agent attack (Image: Metropolitan Police).

On Wednesday, police announced they had enough evidence to charge two Russian men, named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with the poisoning in March.

Prime Minister Theresa May told MPs that the attacks in the Wiltshire town had been carried out by two Russian spies and sanctioned at a "senior level" by Vladimir Putin’s regime.

She told the Commons, investigations have concluded that the two suspects are members of the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service, and it was not a "rogue operation".

The British military still has 120 personnel involved in the clean up in Salisbury after being deployed in April.

May has accused the attacks of being authorised at a "senior level" by the Putin regime (Image: Tass) — Theresa May has claimed the attacks were authorised at a "senior level" by Russia (Image: Tass)

Like Britain, Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and has long denied allegations of official involvement in the poisoning.

Other members of the Security Council, such as the US and France, have backed the British position.

In a statement, the Russian Embassy in the UK accused the British authorities of being unwilling to engage with them and called on the Government to "give up politicised public accusations".

The Embassy later tweeted that London, “shows no willingness to engage with Russia in order to establish the truth. Our offers of cooperation remain on the table".