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UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, has given his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, 24 hours to explain how a deadly substance was recently used in an assassination attempt in the UK.
May announced on Monday that a Russian military-grade nerve agent Novichok was used in the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury.
She told MPs that there were only two possible explanations – either Moscow was behind the attack or it had lost control of its stockpile of the poison.
The PM set a deadline of midnight on Tuesday for the Kremlin to explain which of the two options is the case.
Failure to provide a “credible” response would lead her to view the incident as “an unlawful use of force by the Russian State against the United Kingdom”, sparking unspecified measures in reprisal.