Nope.
They lied saying they had proof the chemical was made in Russia. Although difficult they can tell where nearly ever chemical in the world came from in these things and pinpointing to russia should not have been a problem.
They misled calling it a russian nerve agent, when the only country on record ever making it is Iran. However the OPCW said years ago they think every country makes it for research, and to develop treatements, and wished more would list it with them.
Several sites used by the ussr were found to develop the nerve agent. Ukraine had to invite USA/UK in to clean up the area in one lab but most former USSR countries are thought to have stockpiles and it might actually originate from czech republic/ukraine area.
Although hard to make, it can be made in a fertalizer plant, one of the reasons so many countries are afraid to list it, is because its binary safe meaning its easy to transport, and compared to other chemicals where all their ingredients are banned, easier to make.
Lastly, you can call putin whatever you want, evil, a dictator etc, but he is without doubt one of the top tacticians on the planet.
Saudi arabia admitted they pushed extreme islam all across the middle east on the request of America to stop Russia getting a foothold. It got them out of Afghanistan. But now Russia is firmly in Syria, Iran, and will be entering Iraq soon, they have also made friends with Turkey, and will likely spread into other countries like Egypt, Lybia.
In other words, Putin used their tactics against them. Putin also does not retaliate as much as people think. Turkey shot down one of his jets, and he sold them their most advanced ground to air missiles in response.
Why Putin would order the execution of some has-been double agent spy from decades ago during a presidential campaign is just idiotic. Russia had him caught, had him in jail, swapped him for one of their agents. Russia was happy with the deal.
It's far more likely that this agent, who once was a major player, who knows of these chemicals and possibly had access to porton down where chemicals were stored, or even had some safely stored from his old days. No longer of any importance, all of his information obsolete, decided to kill himself and implicate Russia in the process. His last hoorah.
If the fsb moved on their own, Putin would have them killed. I think thats a non starter. I think people would be fearful of putin more than wanting some sort of revenge from decades ago. |
