BRITAIN rejected a Russian proposal today for a joint investigation into the poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury.

Russia made the suggestion at an emergency meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

It had called the emergency meeting following revelations yesterday by the chief executive of Britain’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down that scientists were not able to determine where the nerve agent used on the Skripals had been manufactured.

This statement contradicted previous assertions by the Foreign Office and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that scientists had identified Russia as the source.

Since having to backtrack on its claims, including by deleting tweets, the Foreign Office has invoked “other intelligence” as its reason for blaming Moscow.

It rejected calls from Russia to share this intelligence at the OPCW, however, saying the victim of a chemical attack was under no obligation to co-operate with “the likely perpetrator.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the Turkish capital Ankara that, while he did not expect Britain to back down, he hoped it would act in accordance with international law.

But Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) director Sergei Naryshkin told the Moscow International Security Conference 2018, which focused mostly on the war in Syria, that the Skripals’ poisoning was “a grotesque provocation rudely staged by the British and US intelligence agencies.”

The summit, attended by representatives of 95 countries, saw a dramatic announcement by Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe that his delegation’s presence would “show Americans the close ties between the armed forces of China and Russia. 

“We’ve come to support you,” Mr Wei told his hosts.