© 2026 ABC News

The Russian embassy has been raising questions on social media about the secrecy surrounding the research at Porton Down. They have specifically questioned whether the laboratories had their own samples of Novichok to compare with the Salisbury nerve agent.

\"PHOTO:
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
PHOTO: A police officer stands guard by a forensics tent over a pay and display machine in a Sainsbury's car park as investigations continue into the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, March 13, 2018, in Salisbury, England.
>

New information came to light on Wednesday, April 4, that the U.K. Foreign Office had deleted a tweet on March 22 that alleged Porton Down experts was clear that the nerve agent was “produced in Russia.”

The Russian embassy swiftly responded on Twitter, with a screenshot of the tweet, asking “Why would @foreignoffice delete this tweet from 22 March?”

Why would @foreignoffice delete this tweet from 22 March? pic.twitter.com/Nvu1BfJw9J

— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) April 4, 2018

The deleted tweet said, “Analysis by world-leading experts at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down made clear that this was a military-grade Novichok nerve agent produced in Russia.”

On Wednesday, Johnson came under pressure to clarify whether the government had been misleading with its statements or whether its position had changed and whether this was due to undisclosed evidence not shared with the public.

The U.K. government, still on Easter recess, scrambled to address the damage.

Security minister Ben Wallace appeared on a BBC broadcast to explain that the experts at Porton Down were not assigned to point the blame, but to provide scientific analysis on the samples. He said the wider investigation would need input from several sources, which \"includes intelligence, detectives if it’s a police investigation and the scientists, as well.\"

\"Porton Down will be able to tell you that there are very, very, very few people in the world who, first of all, did design Novichok –- and that was the Russians –- and who has developed and stockpiled it,\" Wallace said.

After the deleted tweets emerged and made headlines, a Foreign Office spokesman said that the tweet was deleted because it inaccurately transcribed comments made by British Ambassador Laurie Bristow.

\"One of the tweets was truncated and did not accurately report our ambassador’s words,\" he said. \"We have removed this tweet.\"

According to a government transcript, the ambassador's words on March 22 were, “The analysts at Porton Down ... established and made clear this was a military-grade chemical weapon. One of the Novichok series; a nerve agent as I said produced in Russia.”

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/International/british-foreign-minister-pressure-nerve-agent-poisoning-comments/story?id=54253206","legacySlug":"/news/story/british-foreign-minister-pressure-nerve-agent-poisoning-comments-54253206","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"16:20","publishDate":"04-05-2018","updatedTime":"16:56","updatedDate":"04-05-2018","socialImage":{"alt":"Britain's Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson leaves the weekly cabinet meeting held at 10 Downing street, March 27, 2018, in London.","credit":"Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA via Shutterstock","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/boris-johnson-sh-mem-180405_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"4/5/2018 16:20:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":54253206,"headline":"UK foreign minister pressured over poisoning claim","mediaAssetTitle":"MACFARLANE_SKRIPAL UPDATE_180405","description":"UK Foreign Secretary accused of causing confusion with comments on investigation","duration":"0:30","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180330_atm_russia_diplomats_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["133741861","133707237","133144263"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"video","date":"June 10, 2026","headline":"NASA unveils Artemis III crew","section":"News","slug":"/video/133741861","id":"133741861","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: NASA unveils Artemis III crew","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: NASA unveils Artemis III crew","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260610_gma_benitez_artemis_715_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"June 9, 2026","headline":"Flash flood threat as dangerous weather on the move","section":"News","slug":"/video/133707237","id":"133707237","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Flash flood threat as dangerous weather on the move","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Flash flood threat as dangerous weather on the move","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260609_gma_zee_weather1_707_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}},{"contentType":"video","date":"May 20, 2026","headline":"Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","section":"News","slug":"/video/133144263","id":"133144263","image":{"alt":"VIDEO: Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","width":384,"height":384},"images":{"alt":"VIDEO: Fashion mogul’s son arrested in father’s fatal fall","credit":"ABCNews.com","crops":[{"16x9":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"9x16":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_9x16_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_9x16_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg"}},{"1x1":{"small":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_608.jpg","medium":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_992.jpg","large":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/260520_gma_ally_fall3_732_hpMain_1x1_1600.jpg"}}]}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"UK foreign minister pressured over poisoning claim","description":"UK Foreign Secretary accused of causing confusion with comments on investigation","duration":"0:30","uploadDate":"04-05-2018","publication":"04-05-2018","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180330_atm_russia_diplomats_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/03/180330_atm_russia_diplomats_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/british-foreign-minister-pressure-nerve-agent-poisoning-comments-54253206"}},"playlist":[{"id":"134041491","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134033809","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"78356537","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133929295","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133958398","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133882828","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810954","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133779647","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810835","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133749799","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133777519","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133748258","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133730535","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133712423","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133694181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133688738","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616358","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616342","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133522899","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133584123","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"UK foreign minister pressured over poisoning claim","pubTime":"12:20","pubDate":"04-05-2018","modTime":"12:56","modDate":"04-05-2018","taxonomyTags":"none","id":54253206,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"UK foreign minister pressured over poisoning claim","mediaAssetTitle":"MACFARLANE_SKRIPAL UPDATE_180405","videoId":54253206,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/british-foreign-minister-pressure-nerve-agent-poisoning-comments-54253206"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/54253206","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/54253206","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};