Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that catalyzes the breakdown of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter.
A Novichok agent is a group of nerve agents, some of which are binary chemical weapons. The agents were developed at the GosNIIOKhT state chemical research institute by the Soviet Union and Russia between 1971 and 1993. Some Novichok agents at STP are solids while others are liquids. It is thought that dispersal for the solids is possible by ultrafine powder.
VR is a "V-series" unitary nerve agent closely related to the better-known VX nerve agent. It became a prototype for the series of Novichok agents. According to chemical weapons expert Jonathan Tucker, the first binary formulation developed under the Soviet Foliant program was used to make Substance 33, differing from VX only in the alkyl substituents on its nitrogen and oxygen atoms. "This weapon was given the code name Novichok."
Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), also known as anti-cholinesterase, are chemicals that prevent the breakdown of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine or butyrylcholine. This increases the amount of the acetylcholine or butyrylcholine in the synaptic cleft that can bind to muscarinic receptors, nicotinic receptors and others. This group of inhibitors is divided into two subgroups, acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) and butyrylcholinesterase inhibitors (BChEIs).
On June 1, 1990, Presidents George H.W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev signed the bilateral U.S.–Soviet Chemical Weapons Accord; officially known as the "Agreement on Destruction and Non-production of Chemical Weapons and on Measures to Facilitate the Multilateral Convention on Banning Chemical Weapons". This pact was signed during a summit meeting in Washington D.C.
Vil Sultanovich Mirzayanov is a Russian chemist of ethnic Tatar origin who now lives in the United States, best known for revealing secret chemical weapons experimentation in Russia.
The poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal was the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer and double agent for the British intelligence agencies, and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, on 4 March 2018 in the city of Salisbury, England. According to UK sources and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the poisoning was by means of a Novichok nerve agent. Each spent some weeks in hospital in a critical condition, before being discharged. A police officer, Nick Bailey, was also taken into intensive care after attending the incident, and was later discharged.
A-232 is an organophosphate nerve agent. It was developed in the Soviet Union under the FOLIANT program and is one of the group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents that were revealed by Vil Mirzayanov. A-232 is reportedly slightly less potent as a nerve agent compared to some of the other compounds in the series such as A-230 and A-234, having similar potency to the older nerve agent VR. However it proved to be the most versatile agent as it was chemically stable and remained a volatile liquid over a wide temperature range, making it able to be used in standard chemical munitions without requiring special delivery mechanisms to be developed.
A-234 is an organophosphate nerve agent. It was developed in the Soviet Union under the FOLIANT program and is one of the group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents that were revealed by Vil Mirzayanov. In March 2018 the Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, claimed to have been informed by British authorities that A-234 had been identified as the agent used in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Vladimir Uglev, one of the inventors of the Novichok series of compounds, said he was "99 per cent sure that it was A-234" in relation to the 2018 Amesbury poisonings, noting its unusually high persistence in the environment.
On 30 June 2018, in Amesbury, two British nationals, Charlie Rowley and Dawn Sturgess, were admitted to Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire, England. Police determined that they were poisoned by a Novichok nerve agent of the same kind used in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury, 8 miles (13 km) away, almost four months prior. Sturgess died on 8 July, and Rowley regained consciousness two days after.
C01-A035 is a Novichok agent. It is the methyl phosphorofluoridate ester of phosgene oxime.
C01-A039 is a Novichok agent. It is the ethyl phosphorofluoridate ester of phosgene oxime.
The Salisbury Poisonings is a three-part fact-based television drama, starring Anne-Marie Duff, Rafe Spall and Annabel Scholey which portrays the 2018 Novichok poisoning crisis in Salisbury, England, and the subsequent Amesbury poisonings. The series was broadcast on BBC One in June 2020, and was created by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn for Dancing Ledge Productions.
On 20 August 2020, Russian opposition figure and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny was poisoned with Novichok and was hospitalized in a serious condition. During a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, he became violently ill and was taken to a hospital in Omsk after an emergency landing there, and put in a coma. He was evacuated to the Charité hospital in Berlin, Germany, two days later. The fact of poisoning by the nerve agent was confirmed by five Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) certified laboratories. On 7 September, doctors announced that they had taken Navalny out of the induced coma and that his condition had improved. He was discharged from the hospital on 22 September 2020. Cholinesterase inhibitor from the Novichok group was found in Navalny’s blood, urine, skin samples and his water bottle. At the same time, the OPCW report clarified that Navalny was poisoned with a new type of Novichok, which was not included in the list of controlled chemicals of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
A-230 is an organophosphate nerve agent. It was developed in the Soviet Union under the FOLIANT program and is one of the group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents that were revealed by Vil Mirzayanov. A-230 is possibly the most potent nerve agent for which specific toxicity figures have been published, with a human lethal dose estimated to be less than 0.1mg. However it was felt to be less suitable for weaponisation than other agents such as A-232 and A-234, due to issues with the liquid agent exhibiting low volatility and solidifying at low temperatures, as well as poor stability in the presence of water.
A-242 is an organophosphate nerve agent. It was developed in the Soviet Union under the FOLIANT program and is one of the group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents that were revealed by Vil Mirzayanov. Mirzayanov gives little specific information about A-242, stating that it is highly toxic but no figures are given to compare it to other related agents. It is reportedly a solid rather than a volatile liquid as with most nerve agents, and in order to weaponise it successfully, it had to be milled into a fine powder form that could be dispersed as a dust.
GP is an organophosphate nerve agent of the G-series, with a relatively slow rate of hydrolysis, and thus high stability and persistence in the environment.
A-262 is an organophosphate nerve agent. It was developed in the Soviet Union under the FOLIANT program and is one of the group of compounds referred to as Novichok agents that were revealed by Vil Mirzayanov. Mirzayanov gives little specific information about A-262, stating that it is highly toxic but no figures are given to compare it to other related agents. It is reportedly a solid rather than a volatile liquid as with most nerve agents, and in order to weaponise it successfully, it had to be milled into a fine powder form that could be dispersed as a dust.
