Britain has taken decisive action against Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency following a damning inquiry that implicated President Vladimir Putin in a 2018 nerve agent attack on British soil. This move includes the imposition of sanctions and the summoning of Moscow’s ambassador for a formal confrontation.

The incident in question involved former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, who fell gravely ill in March 2018. They had come into contact with Novichok, a potent nerve agent applied to the handle of Skripal’s front door. A police officer, Nick Bailey, also suffered from exposure but, like the Skripals, ultimately survived.

Tragically, the crisis escalated three months later when Dawn Sturgess and her partner inadvertently discovered a discarded perfume bottle containing the same nerve agent. Sturgess sprayed the substance on her wrist, leading to her untimely death a few days later, while her partner endured but survived the ordeal.

Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow has consistently denied involvement in these poisonings. In 2018, President Putin dismissed Sergei Skripal, calling him “just a scumbag” and claiming he was of no interest to the Kremlin.

The inquiry into Sturgess’ death, led by former UK Supreme Court Justice Anthony Hughes, concluded that the attack on the Skripals “must have been authorized at the highest level,” directly implicating Putin in these grave acts.

He concluded that Sturgess was “an innocent victim of an attempt by officers of a Russian state organisation to conduct an assassination on the streets of Salisbury using a highly toxic nerve agent”.

Britain has charged three alleged GRU agents over the attack on the Skripals, but the UK has no extradition agreement with Russia, so there is little prospect of putting them on trial.

Novichok is a class of military-grade nerve agents developed by the Soviet Union at the end of the Cold War. Western weapons experts believe it was only ever manufactured in Russia, though Moscow has said that the US, UK and other countries have the expertise to make it.

The UK sanctions announcement also named eight alleged cyber military intelligence officers for working for the GRU. Britain’s Foreign Office said that they targeted Yulia Skripal with malware five years before the Novichok attack.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that Hughes’ findings “are a grave reminder of the Kremlin’s disregard for innocent lives”.

“Dawn’s needless death was a tragedy and will forever be a reminder of Russia’s reckless aggression,” he said.