Prague, March 21 (CTK) – The Czech Republic neither owns, nor produces nor develops chemical weapons, the State Nuclear Safety Office (SUJB) has said, adding that the poison of the Novichok type that was used against a former Russian agent in Britain is not among the substances whose handling requires a SUJB licence.
The law binds the SUJB to issue licences for handling very dangerous substances that figure on a special list.
“Since the substance of the Novichok type is not among the listed substances, the SUJB could not even issue a licence for its handling. Nevertheless, according to information available to the SUJB, a substance of the Novichok type has not been handled in the Czech Republic,” the SUJB wrote on its website.
Miroslava Leflerova, from the SUJB, added that all subjects that handle the selected very dangerous substances in the Czech Republic have instructions from SUJB inspectors to immediately inform the SUJB about potentially abusable substances.
In early March, Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned by Novichok, a combat substance, in Salisbury. Britain said Russia was responsible for the attack.
Dismissing the accusation, Moscow said the poison might have come from the Czech Republic, Slovakia or Sweden.
Czech Foreign Minister Martin Stropnicky (ANO) protested against the allegation immediately.
On Tuesday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said the reactions by the Czech Republic and Sweden, which had also rejected the allegation, changed nothing in the fact that these countries had the possibility to develop agents of the Novichok type.
Earlier on Wednesday, Czech PM Andrej Babis (ANO) called Moscow’s allegation “an absolute lie”.
