A police officer guards a cordoned off area of Queen Elizabeth Gardens after it was confirmed that two people had been poisoned with the nerve-agent Novichok, in Salisbury, Britain, July 5, 2018. (Reuters pic)
British authorities said Sturgess, 44, died on Sunday after being poisoned by the same nerve agent that struck a former Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia in March, triggering a crisis in relations between Western capitals and Moscow.
“We continue to be deeply worried by the continuing presence of these poisonous substances on British territory,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the death of Sturgess. “We consider that it is a danger not only for the British but for other Europeans.”
Russia, which is currently hosting the soccer World Cup, has denied any involvement in the Skripal case and suggested the British security services had carried out the attack to stoke anti-Moscow hysteria.
Peskov said the investigation and what was happening in the Salisbury area was a British issue which had nothing to do with an upcoming summit between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.