The Skripal Poisoning - A Very Deep British Affair

[Peter Lemkin]

May 3, 2018 - Czech president Miloš Zeman has said the country produced the Novichoknerve agent for testing but it was then destroyed.
Zeman, speaking on commercial broadcaster TV Barrandov, said he based hiscomments on the findings of the military intelligence. Their informationsuggested the type of nerve agent believed to have been used on a formerRussian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter was produced at a Brnomilitary research centre in November last year.
Zeman said a report from the civil intelligence agency disagreed with thatfinding but he favoured the military intelligence.
Russia in March suggested the Czech Republic was one of the countries wherenovichok could have been produced. The comments sparked denials from Czechministers and the government. Zeman later ordered investigations intowhether it could be true.

[Peter Lemkin]

May 3, 2018 - Czech president Miloš Zeman has said the country produced the Novichoknerve agent for testing but it was then destroyed.
Zeman, speaking on commercial broadcaster TV Barrandov, said he based hiscomments on the findings of the military intelligence. Their informationsuggested the type of nerve agent believed to have been used on a formerRussian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter was produced at a Brnomilitary research centre in November last year.
Zeman said a report from the civil intelligence agency disagreed with thatfinding but he favoured the military intelligence.
Russia in March suggested the Czech Republic was one of the countries wherenovichok could have been produced. The comments sparked denials from Czechministers and the government. Zeman later ordered investigations intowhether it could be true.

....this is still playing out locally here....

The discrepancies in intelligence reports regarding the testing of thenerve gas Novichok in the Czech Republic should be addressed at a meetingof the National Security Council, the deputy chairs of ANO and the SocialDemocrats, Petr Vokřál and Martin Netolický, agreed in a Czech TV debateon Sunday.
They said the intelligence services should explain why the president andprime minister had received different reports on the matter and thepresident should be invited to the meeting to explain why he had revealedclassified information in an interview for a commercial TV station.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said earlier he would demand an explanation asto why the Military Intelligence Agency and the intelligence agency BIS hadprovided conflicting information on the matter.

[Peter Lemkin]

May 3, 2018 - Czech president Miloš Zeman has said the country produced the Novichoknerve agent for testing but it was then destroyed.
Zeman, speaking on commercial broadcaster TV Barrandov, said he based hiscomments on the findings of the military intelligence. Their informationsuggested the type of nerve agent believed to have been used on a formerRussian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter was produced at a Brnomilitary research centre in November last year.
Zeman said a report from the civil intelligence agency disagreed with thatfinding but he favoured the military intelligence.
Russia in March suggested the Czech Republic was one of the countries wherenovichok could have been produced. The comments sparked denials from Czechministers and the government. Zeman later ordered investigations intowhether it could be true.

....this is still playing out locally here....

The discrepancies in intelligence reports regarding the testing of thenerve gas Novichok in the Czech Republic should be addressed at a meetingof the National Security Council, the deputy chairs of ANO and the SocialDemocrats, Petr Vokřál and Martin Netolický, agreed in a Czech TV debateon Sunday.
They said the intelligence services should explain why the president andprime minister had received different reports on the matter and thepresident should be invited to the meeting to explain why he had revealedclassified information in an interview for a commercial TV station.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said earlier he would demand an explanation asto why the Military Intelligence Agency and the intelligence agency BIS hadprovided conflicting information on the matter.

....and on....

ANO, ÄŒSSD for Security Council to discuss Novichok-related issues



ÄŒTK |
7 MAY 2018
[FONT=&amp]Prague, May 6 (CTK) - The question of the Novichok poison's presence in the Czech Republic, President Milos Zeman's comments and secret services' allegedly differing information on it should be discussed by the National Security Council, ANO and Social Democrat (CSSD) officials agreed on Sunday.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]ANO deputy chairman Petr Vokral shared the opinion with his CSSD counterpart Martin Netolicky in a debate on Czech Television (CT).[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Netolicky said the Security Council should meet in Zeman's presence to clarify the issue.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]On Thursday, Zeman said a small amount of the Novichok nerve poison was produced and tested in the Czech Republic last year.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Reacting to him, the Foreign Ministry and the Defence Ministry said such substances have been synthetised in the country for chemical defence purposes, but only microscopic amounts of them, and they definitely could not have leaked from the military research laboratories.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]The very substance of the Novichok type (A234) that poisoned former Russian agent Sergei Skripal in early March has never been tested in the Czech Republic, the ministries said.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Vokral said on Sunday he feels embarrassed by the allegedly different assessment of the issue by the Czech military intelligence service (VZ) and the civilian counter-intelligence service (BIS), as referred to by Zeman.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]"This may produce statements that shed rather unfavourable light on us," Vokral said.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Netolicky said the developments play into the hands of Russian propaganda and make the Czech Republic ridiculous.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Zeman behaves unpredictably, said Mikulas Ferjencik, a Pirate deputy who also attended the debate on Sunday.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Vokral and Ferjencik suggested that the Chamber of Deputies deal with the issue.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Vokral said the public should be informed on what substances were tested in the country and how they were handled.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]"We, the deputies, need to verify whether the president has made up the information [on Novichok in the country]. We need to find out the truth," said Ferjencik.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Netolicky said the president, the prime minister and the ministers of defence and foreign affairs should regularly meet to discuss each other's positions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Citing its sources, Czech Television said Prague's involvement in the Novichok affair may be connected with the Czech presidency of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which starts next week and is to deal with issues such as the suspected use of chemical weapons in Syria.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Ferjencik said this information is new to him. Vokral said he wants to believe that CT's information is a mere coincidence. Netolicky would not speculate in this respect. He said he hopes that CT's information would not be confirmed.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]On Thursday, Zeman said, citing the VZ, that the nerve-paralysing substance A230, which he called Novichok, was produced in the Czech Republic. He also said the BIS came to the conclusion that A230 is not Novichok, but that he shares the VZ's opinion.[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]Welcoming Zeman's statements, Russia said they refute the British allegation that Moscow is behind the attack on Skripal.[/FONT]

This is quite a goon show here, and hard to follow...but it does prove that the statements made by the UK and US are really subject to question - if not outright doubt without verifiable proofs. That a NATO member admits to having produced Novichuk nerve agents in the past year throws rather a large monkey-wrench in things....add to that the two intelligence agencies here can not agree on which, how much, and fate of the nerve agent involved.....

[Peter Lemkin]

Ah, its all been cleared up...military intelligence and the main intelligence agency made a mistake - all has been corrected. [one wonders what forces were behind this 'correction'!]

A nerve agent such as Novichok was neither produced nor stored in the CzechRepublic, according to conclusions reached by the lower house ofparliament's foreign affairs committee.
The conclusions were communicated by defense minister Karla Šlechtováafter attending the committee session on Thursday. It was also attended bythe head of the civil intelligence service and by the head of the authorityfor nuclear security, which is also responsible for oversight of chemicalweapons.
Confusion about whether the Czech Republic has produced the type of nerveagent used in the attack on a British-based Russian double agent wassparked by Czech president Miloš Zeman. He said last week that a report bymilitary intelligence suggested a small amount of the nerve agent had beenproduced for testing before being destroyed.
The prime minister and defence and foreign ministers have disagreed withZeman's interpretation of the report. Some of the arguments have centredon semantic interpretations of what produced' actually meant.

[Peter Lemkin]

Skripal was secretly in Prague in 2012

[/FONT]

ÄŒTK |
14 MAY 2018
Prague, May 13 (CTK) - Double agent Sergei Skripal, poisoned by the Novichok agent in Britain this March, was secretly in Prague in 2012 and he met representatives of Czech security forces at least once in Britain, the weekly Respekt said on its webpage on Sunday.
Respekt writes its sources do not think the attack on him was connected in any way with his visit to Prague.
Respekt writes that Skripal, who was recruited by the British MI6 in 1995, had a much bigger position in the Russian secret services than officially said.
In the first half of the 1990s, he headed the personnel department of the military intelligence GRU, thanks to which he had an excellent overview of the deployment of its agents in Europe and he knew the identity of some of them, it adds.
After settling down in Britain, Skripal started cooperating with MI6 in order to uncover the network of Russian agents.
"For this purpose, the British also enabled a meeting of Skripal and representatives from partnership countries with which they closely cooperate. The Czech Republic has been one of them since the 1990s," Respekt writes.
"At least once, in 2012, Skripal visited Prague and though he only stayed for a short time in it, his trip was a contribution to the local secret services," it adds.
Britain accused Russia of being behind the attack by the Novichok. Russia then said the poison could have originated from Russia.
President Milos Zeman then said, referring to the report delivered to him by the military intelligence, that a small quantity of Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic, though a report from the BIS counter-intelligence ruled this out.
Russia then welcomed Zeman's statement, arguing that it refuted the British allegations.
Reacting to Zeman's statement, the Defence Ministry said the substances of the Novichok type were synthesised for the purposes of chemical warfare, but only in a microscopic quantity. It ruled it out that they could get out from labs.
The Foreign Ministry said the Czech Republic had not tested the same substance as that with which Skripal was poisoned.



[/FONT]

[Peter Lemkin]

PRAGUE -- Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky says he believes his country's intelligence services benefited from being briefed six years ago by Sergei Skripal, the Russian former double agent who was poisoned with a nerve toxin along with his daughter in England in March.
Stropnicky told RFE/RL on May 14 that he thought Skripal's secret talks with Czech agents in Prague in 2012 were "on the normal basis of cooperation" between the intelligence services of the Czech Republic and Great Britain.
"Great Britain is known as a country with high-quality information services," Stropnicky said.
"As an exchange, or a kind of cooperation, it seems to me quite logical," he said, adding that he didn't know details about the information Skripal shared with Czech operatives.
"I can imagine [it was useful] because I would never expect that the British would send some kind of problematic man," Stopnicky said. "There was a reason for it, probably."
Skripal was a member of Russia's GRU military intelligence in the 1990s when he acted as a double agent for Britain.
He was arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in December 2004 and sentenced to 13 years in prison after being convicted of high treason in the form of espionage. He was accused of revealing the identities of Russian intelligence agents working in Europe.
But Russia freed him in 2010 and sent him to Britain as part of a spy swap for 10 Russian agents who'd been arrested in the United States.
Britain has accused Russia of using a rare, toxic nerve agent that had been manufactured by the Soviet Union to try to assassinate Skripal in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.
The Kremlin denies the allegation, but a diplomatic dispute over the case has led to the expulsion of more than 150 Russian diplomats from two dozen Western countries.
A May 14 report in The New York Times about Skripal's contacts in NATO countries after his release in the spy swap suggests his poisoning may have been an act of retribution for working with Western intelligence agents to foil Russian espionage operations in Europe after 2010.
The report says Skripal briefed Czech intelligence officers at a secret meeting in Prague in 2012 about the kinds of spy tricks used by Russian agents he had known.
It said Skripal met with Czech intelligence officials on several occasions and also visited Estonia in 2016 to brief Estonian spies.
The New York Times also reported that Skripal's briefings on Russia were "almost certainly approved and possibly facilitated" by Britain as a way to "both educate their allies and provide Skripal with income."

[Peter Lemkin]

Military Research Institute head sacked over Novichok scandal

ÄŒTK |
[/FONT]15 MAY 2018
[/FONT]Prague, May 14 (CTK) - Defence Minister Karla Slechtova (ANO) on Monday dismissed the director of the Military Research Institute (VVU), Bohuslav Safar, whom Prime Minister Andrej Babis (ANO) criticised over his statements about the Novichok agent, the Defence Minister has said on its webpage.[/FONT]
The VVU will be temporarily headed by its deputy director Josef Hrncirik and a tender will be put up for the post of its director.[/FONT]
Slechtova did not disclose the reasons for Safar's dismissal to journalists or Safar himself.[/FONT]
Safar told CTK the minister had the right to dismiss the VVU director.[/FONT]
When Moscow said the Czech Republic may have been the originator of Novichok, Safar said poisonous substances were produced in the Czech Republic solely for laboratory purposes to test their properties and in a very small amount of some grammes only.[/FONT]
Safar said since only grammes were involved, this was no production, but "laboratory preparation of a small amount" for the testing of its qualities.[/FONT]
Novichok poison was used against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain in March.[/FONT]
President Milos Zeman has referred to Safar in connection with his own statement that Novichok really was produced in the Czech Republic. This was dismissed by other representatives of the Czech Republic.[/FONT]
Babis said Safar's statement had been unfortunate.[/FONT]
He said Safar's statement could have caused a misunderstanding with Zeman.[/FONT]
Babis said he had not asked Slechtova to dismiss Safar.[/FONT]
"I certainly did not ask her to dismiss him, but she informed me about it. It is true that some statements by Safar were controversial and played a certain role on the international scene," he added.[/FONT]
"I thank Safar for his long-term work at the head of the VVU," Slechtova said.[/FONT]
The VVU is a state-run company administered by the Defence Ministry. Its director is named or dismissed by the minister or the government.[/FONT]
Safar, who is still a VVU employee, has declined to comment on his dismissal.[/FONT]
He only said he had not learnt the reason for his dismissal.[/FONT]

[Peter Lemkin]

Senators from the opposition Mayors and Independents Party want to proposea treason charge against President Miloš Zeman over his claim that thenerve-gas Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic. The party's senators' club announced the news at a press conference onThursday, adding that by disclosing classified information from a militaryintelligence report, the president has threatened the security of Czechcitizens.

[Lauren Johnson]

Senators from the opposition Mayors and Independents Party want to proposea treason charge against President Miloš Zeman over his claim that thenerve-gas Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic. The party's senators' club announced the news at a press conference onThursday, adding that by disclosing classified information from a militaryintelligence report, the president has threatened the security of Czechcitizens.

Peter, would you see this as a kind of color revolution or regime change agenda? It just seems weird. Why make these absurd charges?

[Peter Lemkin]

Senators from the opposition Mayors and Independents Party want to proposea treason charge against President Miloš Zeman over his claim that thenerve-gas Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic. The party's senators' club announced the news at a press conference onThursday, adding that by disclosing classified information from a militaryintelligence report, the president has threatened the security of Czechcitizens.

Peter, would you see this as a kind of color revolution or regime change agenda? It just seems weird. Why make these absurd charges?

No. But what is happening [mostly internal - I see no US hand in this - except perhaps in the latest denials] is very much more complex and crazy then it looks if you don't follow [and who does but me] Czech Political things. Zeman is a right-wing idiot, with policies and ideas close to Trump. He is also, it seems, a heavy drinker and often says things he should not for political or security reasons. He also often makes statements that shows his rabid ultra-right ideas and prejudices. However, in this matter, he seems to have told a truth his military [which is close to NATO - Zeman is not especially] felt should not even have been mentioned. To confuse things further, there were statements from different secret agencies here - both saying that Novichok had been produced here in the not too distant past, but differing GREATLY in the amount produced. Now, everyone but Zeman are trying to call those 'stories' false - and claim that NO Novichok was produced here at all - or that the kind that was produced in minute amounts and then immediately destroyed was a different type than could have been involved in the Skripal matter. Stranger still, and not fleshed out, is the story that Skripal came to Prague and met with intelligence agencies here and told them a lot of important things [on what is not really addressed]. It is hard to confirm 100%, but to me it seems obvious that no one here would make the mistake of saying that Novichok nerve agents [there are several variants] were produced here unless they were. The issue of when might vary, but again I'm guessing. As to the two stories that differ in the amount and which agent...again, hard to tell which is correct, but I sense the larger amount is most likely. Remember that Czechoslovakia was in the Soviet bloc until 1989 and the military and intelligence agencies here were connected at the hip to those of the USSR. Now, the military and intelligence agencies are officially connected at the hip to NATO and the USA. However, Zeman is very close to Russia. This story is FAR from clear or settled here and I'm afraid is about to just die an unnatural death here - as far as investigative reporting goes. It is interesting thought and goes a LONG way to proving some of the assumptions being stated by UK and USA as false - that ONLY Russia could have [and implied is DID] produce Novichok nerve agents. Zeman is [to me, sadly] fairly popular here. About half of the voters like him. The other half hate him with a passion and voted for a progressive scientist from the academy of sciences here, who was not a politician, but ran recently and just lost by 2-3%, to stop a Zeman-Trump clone from being President here. There is no attack on the country or stability of it. The structure here is entirely different than in the USA and the President doesn't have the same powers as in the USA. It is also a multi-party system in the Parliament. So, in short, different factions of government here are close to the UK and USA [read also MI5-6/CIA] and others are not very close - but none are outright hostile to them. How this turns out, if it turns out at all rather than just dies in the news, I can't predict. If Zeman is removed from office [here one can force a President into an early new election - unlike in the USA] it will likely not be over this. Here few care about this at all, as far as I can tell. This kind of internecine battle is fairly common here. Who is telling the truth in this case is unclear to me. Czech intelligence and Czech military intelligence are very opaque agencies and they don't leak but rarely. Clear is that some Novichok was produced and likely stored - to be known is if that was before or after [or both] 1989. It also shows that you don't need to be a superpower to produce this agent. If the UK and or US leaned on someone to withdraw their statements on production of Novichok agents is unknown - and unlikely to surface here. This is a client state. Once of the USSR, now of the USA/NATO. While individuals and agencies often [and may have in this case] spoken out without asking permission beforehand, they may have decided under pressure to deny their own reports. It is all very unclear and getting more cloudy with time. I do not do research on the deep political workings within this country - as it would not be a healthy thing for me to do! - so I am using public sources and my own gut feelings based on past events.