Russian senator denies Moscow still produces nerve gas

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – A Russian senator has said Moscow no longer produces nerve gases, including the agent that was used to poison its former spy in the U.K.

Speaking to journalists in the Russian capital, Igor Morozov, who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Russian Council of Federation, said Russia not only stopped the production of nerve gases, including Novichok, but also completely destroyed all its reserves.

Morozov was commenting about the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the U.K., allegedly by a nerve gas that Russia developed.

The senator also added that the destruction of the Russian chemical weapons had been done under the control of the international body -- Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were admitted to a hospital after being found unconscious on a bench on March 4 in the southern English city of Salisbury.

Skripal was granted refuge in the U.K. following a spy exchange between Russia and the U.S. in 2010. He had been convicted by a Moscow military court of “high treason” after admitting to leaking information to British intelligence and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.