Vladimir Putin dismisses Salisbury poisoning claims as ‘nonsense’

The Russian president offered to work with the UK on the inquiry and said Moscow had destroyed all its chemical weapons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to supporters during a rally near the Kremlin (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

By Vladimir Isachenkov and Jill Lawless

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has dismissed British accusations of Russia’s involvement in an ex-spy’s poisoning as “nonsense”, but added that Moscow is ready to cooperate with London in the investigation.

In his first comments on the incident, Mr Putin referred to the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter as a “tragedy”, but added that if the British claim that they were poisoned by the Soviet-designed nerve agent were true, the victims would have been killed instantly.