Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a human rights activist, believes that UK actions towards Russia are premature and ludicrous.
Murray, in a phone interview with The Guardian, was determined to challenge the government line, in spite of having been subjected to a level of abuse on social media he had not experienced before. He was also upset by the fact that his reasonable doubts prompted outrage and indignation.
“There is no evidence it was Russia. I am not ruling out that it could be Russia, though I don’t see the motive. I want to see where the evidence lies,” Murray said. “Anyone who expresses scepticism is seen as an enemy of the state.”
Murray is also sceptical over the UK government’s conviction that Novichok agent points to the Russian involvement.
He argued that Israel has extensive stocks of chemical weapons but has always refused to declare any of them to the OPCW. Israel is not a state party to the Chemical Weapons Convention nor a member of the OPCW. Israel signed in 1993 but refused to ratify as this would mean inspection and destruction of its chemical weapons. Israel undoubtedly has as much technical capacity as any state to synthesise “Novichoks”.
