Nerve agent used in UK attack ‘different’ to what Czech military explored – Foreign Ministry

The Czech Foreign Ministry said Friday that nerve agent used in the UK attack has been designated as A-234 and “thus is of a different substance” than that explored by the Czech Military Research Institute in Brno. The intelligence information on the occurrence of the chemical agent called “Novichok” in the Czech Republic, which emerged in the media, is classified, the ministry stressed. The Czech Army, through its Military Research Institute in Brno, specializes in defense against the effects of chemical substances, and “it is only logical that it must know the properties of those agents,” the ministry noted. The statement said that “a relevant analysis is performed by laboratory micro synthesis, which, however, is not considered as a production under the International Convention.” The substance itself is immediately disposed of by the laboratory and is not stored anywhere, and “this substance could not have been misused.”