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[Loud Whispers]

Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have demanded access to Julia Skripal, but she has made known that she is not interested in that, nor does she approve of Russia trying to speak on her behalf.
Russia now accuses the UK of holding Julia Skripal against her will.

The tone of this sentence suggests she is chastising Russia; her statement was actually more neutral, saying that no one but herself represents herself. Russia was not specified, but her cousin was specified, as her cousin had made statements on her behalf while she was comatose and made efforts to try and see her, efforts which went nowhere due to her inability to get a UK visa. Some media outlets are spinning this as Yulia singling out Russia, but her statement makes it clear, she is still recovering and besides getting briefed on the investigation, is not yet getting involved with the public media or political situation.

Other than that, yeah it seems everything's more or less wrapped up. The OPCW's confirmation of the UK's findings is the final nail in the coffin after Putin's media blitz.

[Sheb]

Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have demanded access to Julia Skripal, but she has made known that she is not interested in that, nor does she approve of Russia trying to speak on her behalf.
Russia now accuses the UK of holding Julia Skripal against her will.

Other than that, yeah it seems everything's more or less wrapped up. The OPCW's confirmation of the UK's findings is the final nail in the coffin after Putin's media blitz.

Does it? As far as I could tell, even the Russian shills weren't disputing it was Novichok, just saying that other people could have made it. I don't the the OCPW got more than just that, although I4ve seen some people claiming the full version of the report is meatier than the executive summary that has been released.

[Dorsidwarf]

Meanwhile, the Russian authorities have demanded access to Julia Skripal, but she has made known that she is not interested in that, nor does she approve of Russia trying to speak on her behalf.
Russia now accuses the UK of holding Julia Skripal against her will.

Other than that, yeah it seems everything's more or less wrapped up. The OPCW's confirmation of the UK's findings is the final nail in the coffin after Putin's media blitz.

Does it? As far as I could tell, even the Russian shills weren't disputing it was Novichok, just saying that other people could have made it. I don't the the OCPW got more than just that, although I4ve seen some people claiming the full version of the report is meatier than the executive summary that has been released.

didnt Russia say that novichok doesnt even exist?

[Loud Whispers]

Does it? As far as I could tell, even the Russian shills weren't disputing it was Novichok, just saying that other people could have made it. I don't the the OCPW got more than just that, although I4ve seen some people claiming the full version of the report is meatier than the executive summary that has been released.

They were saying all sorts of falsehoods and half truths, like saying the name "novichok" does not exist and has never been used in Russia, to outright lies like the UK not sending any samples to the OCPW when it had been days since the UK had done exactly that. Just look at Yulia Skripal and how Russian assets are going on about the UK kidnapping Yulia and forcing her to make statements. If they had left a note saying "Putin was here" they would say the UK put it there, and if the only other state to trust was the UK, it would just be a case of one word vs another word. The OCPW changes things, it is not just UK's word vs Russia's word, it is the international evaluation of evidence vs Russia's word.

[Teneb]

I'm pretty sure that if we caught Putin on camera saying that it was Russia all the while he's pouring polonium into the recorder's tea, and the recording was from a live-stream of an event being live streamed by 5 different sources, 3 of which were Russian, they'd still claim that Russia had nothing to do with it.

"The Kremlin is perfectly innocent, I assure you. Would you like some more polonium tea?"

[TD1]

"Wait, wait type of tea?"

"....
Elderflower."

[Teneb]

"Wait, wait type of tea?"

"....
Elderflower."

"You see, Elderflower, in Russian, sounds a lot like the word 'Polonium'. I can see how you'd be confused."

[TD1]

"Oh. Alright, yes please. I'll have a cup."
*Takes out phone. Uses google translate.*
*Spits out "tea".
"No it doesn't! 'Elderflower' is 'buziny'"

"You lie and Google lies."

[martinuzz]

UK intelligence made classified intel public, which shows that Russian intelligence hacked Yulia Skripal's email account, and special units were trained to use nerve agents, specifically in how to apply them to doorknobs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-43755789

[Kagus]

So, still not hard evidence, technically... Better keep denying!

[redwallzyl]

So, still not hard evidence, technically... Better keep denying!

Putin did nothing wrong.

[Teneb]

So, still not hard evidence, technically... Better keep denying!

Putin did nothing wrong.

The Soviet Union has never fallen, it was all but a ruse to fool western capitalist pigdogs.

[redwallzyl]

So, still not hard evidence, technically... Better keep denying!

Putin did nothing wrong.

The Soviet Union has never fallen, it was all but a ruse to fool western capitalist pigdogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDXtVlG2VW0

[Evil Knievel]

Here is the link to the OPCW report. It is short and concise, you may want to read it. By the way, what is confirmed is less than what media purport:

10. The  results  of  analysis  by  the  OPCW  designated  laboratories  of  environmental  and biomedical samples collected by the OPCW  team confirm the findings of the United Kingdom relating to the identity of the toxic chemical that was used in Salisbury and severely injured three people.

11. The  TAV  team  notes  that  the  toxic  chemical  was  of  high  purity.  The  latter  is  concluded from the almost complete absence of impurities.

(emphasis mine)

That makes it less conclusive than I'd have hoped for. I personally believe that the Russians did it, but not for the (still absent, if existing kept secret) evidence but rather for the patterns in Russian reactions, that do not look to me like sensible reactions an innocent would have taken. It looks a bit like the evidence can't be published by the UK, and the Russians know that.

The other interesting point is the reaction of the western states. Their quickness gives me the impression that they use it as a pretext for some other agenda (quite similar to the attacks on Syria today that also were launched before any OPCW investigation took place).

[SaberToothTiger]

Why bother pretending after all? Just invade Syria and go do that "win foreign war to get domestic support" because that worked so well in the past. After all, we need to dispense freedom from 20mm autocannons to somebody.