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Home , Novichok agent, Porton Down, Sergei Skripal

APRIL 2018

Hybrid CoE Working Paper 2 From Nudge to Novichok: The response to the Skripal attack holds lessons for countering hybrid threats

SIR DAVID OMAND

Hybrid CoE Hybrid CoE Working Paper 2

From Nudge to Novichok: The response to the Skripal nerve agent attack holds lessons for countering hybrid threats

Summary

The attempted murder of former Russian of over 120 identified Russian intelligence officer and agent of officers. the British Secret Service, , and his daughter Yulia using a military and Russian officials were grade nerve agent known as a novichok quick to deny any involvement. A Russian is an extreme manifestation of an ‘active state media and Internet propaganda measure’ of a type for which the Russian counter-attack quickly followed on familiar state has been responsible in the past. The lines, including injecting ‘fake news’ stories combination of the known Russian associa- into conventional and social media to dis- tion with the development of the novichok tract and confuse. The pattern is a familiar nerve agent, ’s likely motive (as one from the way has responded stated publicly) to punish those the Russian to other accusations, such as the shooting state regards as traitors, and the fact that down of the MH17 airliner over , a poisoning of a former FSB defector using deploying denials, counter-accusations, and radioactive Polonium 210 had previously ‘alternative facts’ to promote conspiracy been carried out in the UK in 2006 led theories in order to leave the impression not just the British government but the that there is no truth that can be found. US and other NATO allies and EU mem- In the Skripal case the Russian authorities ber states to declare publicly that there also showed themselves able quickly to is no alternative conclusion other than adapt their main lines of counter-attack to that the Russian State was culpable for exploit loose use of language in UK media the attempted murder of the Skripals and interviews, illustrating the extreme care for using an internationally banned nerve needed in any public statement during such agent to do so. propaganda battles. There is little evidence, however, that the Russian propaganda tac- That unprecedented response from dem- tics have worked with Western politicians ocratic nations around the world was fol- and publics, largely due to the international lowed by actions designed both to express NATO/EU solidarity shown through the solidarity with the UK and to hinder the ac- words and deeds of so many democratic na- tivities of the Russian intelligence agencies tions, encouraging journalists to expose the in their countries, including the expulsion nature of the Russian propaganda response.

2 From Nudge to Novichok ‘No plausible alternative explanation’

In her statement to Parliament in London This chemical analysis was later formally on 14 March 2018 ten days after the confirmed by independent laboratories attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and acting for the international Organisation his daughter Yulia in the ancient English for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons cathedral city of , Prime Minister (OPCW). expressed her horror and re- vulsion at the use of a nerve agent on Brit- ish soil. She informed Parliament that the substance used to poison the Skripals had Since its entry into force in 1997, been identified as an advanced fourth gen- the Chemical Weapons Convention eration nerve agent of a type developed by has become one of the pillars of the the and known by the term global non-proliferation regime. The novichok, designed to play havoc with the Convention prohibits the develop- central nervous system and inflict a linger- ment, transfer and use of chemical ing death. The Russian Ambassador in Lon- don had been summoned two days earlier weapons. States Parties to the Con- and given 36 hours to inform the UK if any vention take on a duty to uphold of the past stocks of this nerve agent had and enforce its fundamental tenets. somehow gone missing. The Prime Minis- States Parties commit not to develop, ter regretted that the deadline had passed produce or otherwise acquire, stock- without a response from the Kremlin. Rus- pile or retain chemical weapons, nor sia had provided no explanation as to how to transfer, directly or indirectly, this novichok nerve agent could have come chemical weapons to anyone. States to be used in Salisbury in the heart of rural Parties also undertake not to engage England. As the Prime Minister explained in any military preparations to use “There is no alternative conclusion other chemical weapons, nor to commit to than that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Sergei and assist, encourage or induce anyone to Yulia Skripal, which was an unlawful use of engage in prohibited activity. force by the Russian State against the UK”. The UK described this as an indiscriminate and reckless attack against the United Kingdom putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk, with the first police officer The NATO Council agreed “... with the giving aid on the scene having to be hospi- United Kingdom government’s assess- talised and 39 civilians having had to seek ment that it is highly likely that the Russian urgent medical treatment. Federation is responsible and that there is no plausible alternative explanation... Later that day, the UK confirmed to the Allies expressed deep concern at the first NATO Council in Brussels that there had offensive use of a nerve agent on Alliance been a positive and certain identification territory since NATO’s foundation. Allies by scientists at the defence expressed solidarity with the UK, offered research establishment of the chemical their support in the conduct of the ongoing agent used as part of the novichok group investigation. Allies agreed that the attack of military grade nerve agents, developed was a clear breach of international norms by the Soviet Union but banned under and agreements”. A few days later Jens the Chemical Weapons Convention. Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General,

3 From Nudge to Novichok declared to the world’s media “Russia’s That unprecedented public response response so far has demonstrated a clear from the UK’s allies and partners was disregard for international peace and followed by actions designed both to security, we continue to call on Russia to express solidarity with the UK and to provide complete disclosure of the novi- hinder the activities of the Russian in- chok programme to the Organisation for telligence agencies in their countries. the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. And we welcome the UK’s co-operation The UK government announced on 14 with the OPCW in the investigation of this March that it would expel 23 Russian horrendous attack.” diplomats identified as undeclared in- telligence officers, would propose new International collective action legislative powers to harden defences against Hostile State Activity and would ensure those seeking to carry out such activity could not enter the UK, and would On 22 March the leaders of the UK, suspend all planned high-level contacts France and met to be updated by between the UK and Russia. the UK on the basis of its attribution of the attack to the Russian state: its knowledge This step was quickly followed by action of previous production by Russia of this against Russian intelligence officers taken advanced nerve agent; Russia’s record of by Belgium, Croatia, , Den- conducting state-sponsored assassina- mark, , Finland, France, Germany, tions; and the UK’s assessment that Russia Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, views some defectors as legitimate targets Lithuania, Luxemberg, Netherland, Poland, for assassinations. At the end of the meet- Romania, and . Non-EU ing the three leaders reaffirmed that there countries joined in with expulsions from is no plausible explanation other than that Albania, Australia, Canada, Macedonia, the Russian state was responsible. That Moldova, Montenegro, Norway and conclusion was echoed later that day by all Ukraine, and not least the United States EU nations in their declaration: that would expel no less than 60 Russian diplomats (including 12 posted in the new “The European Council condemns York with the United Nations) and shutter in the strongest possible terms the the Russian Consulate in Seattle. NATO recent attack in Salisbury, expresses announced a cut in the size of its Russian its deepest sympathies to all whose mission by a third, removing accreditation lives have been threatened and lends from seven Russian staff and rejecting its support to the ongoing inves- three other pending applications. tigation. It agrees with the United Kingdom government’s assessment The NATO secretary general an- that it is highly likely that the Rus- nounced that the permanent size of sian Federation is responsible and the Russian mission to NATO would that there is no plausible alternative be cut from 30 to 20 people, adding explanation. We stand in unqualified that the step was intended as “a clear solidarity with the United Kingdom and very strong message that there in the face of this grave challenge to was a cost to Russia’s reckless our shared security.” actions”

4 From Nudge to Novichok All these countries took the risk of kicking the lawless and reckless behaviour out Russian diplomats and others connect- over many years of the Russian state ed to Russian intelligence whose presence under President Putin. In other they deemed to be no longer conducive words, years of vexation and provo- to the public good. A 150 in total from 30 cation by Russia had worn the col- countries making the response the biggest lective patience to breaking point, collective expulsion of alleged Russian intelligence officers in history. Other coun- enough is enough. tries chose to act in complementary ways such as issuing powerful statements or There are now many countries who have downgrading their national representation felt the disruptive behaviour of the Rus- at the World Cup. sian state: the illegal annexation of the Crimea, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Ukraine, Russia’s The link to hybrid threats continued efforts to destabilise Eastern Ukraine with the intervention in the Don- bas, the downing of MH17, the constant pressure of cyberattacks, the attempted The unprecedented message those coup in Montenegro, the concealing of democratic nations intend to send to attacks in Syria, the Russia goes beyond the attempted interference in democratic and political murders themselves, shocking as processes, the hacking of the Bundestag they were. The message goes to the and undermining of democratic institu- heart of the anxieties of the democ- tions, the glorification of new Russian nu- racies over the hybrid threats they clear weapons systems, the intrusions into face from Russia under President NATO airspace, all accompanied by the Putin. constant drumbeat of hostile propaganda.

Why so many nations joined to act in As the British Foreign Secretary con- unison in NATO and the EU was the result cluded “This matter goes far beyond a of a powerful combination of motives. bilateral dispute. If the Russian state is There is evident solidarity with the UK prepared to deploy a banned weapon in as a friendly country that had become a British city – amounting to the unlawful the victim of attack, deep revulsion at the use of force against the United Kingdom indiscriminate nature of the attack with its – then the Kremlin is clearly willing to act risks to public health, outrage at the use of without restraint. The bleak truth is that a chemical nerve agent weapon on Alliance what happened in Salisbury could have and European soil, all compounded by the happened anywhere”. Russia’s record of brazen nature of the Russian denials and conducting state-sponsored assassina- the spreading of ‘fake news’ stories about tions is well-known as are Russian atti- the attack to try to cause the maximum tudes to defectors as legitimate targets confusion. for assassinations. The murder by Russian agents in October 2006 of the former For those nations the hybrid threat FSB officer and exile in London Alexander context is clear, linked directly to Litvinenko is an ugly precedent. In his case the extraordinary method chosen to kill their exasperation and concern over him was to introduce the rare radioactive

5 From Nudge to Novichok substance Polonium 210 (a substance in London is striking. only producible by a nation with a sophis- The only plausible explanation for such ticated nuclear programme) into his tea at complicated and dangerous methods of a leading London hotel, leading to a slow assassination is that both were designed and agonising death. An intensive inves- to send a message to anyone pondering tigation led Scotland Yard to accuse the dissent amid the intensifying repression two Russian FSB agents he had met at the of President Putin’s Russia that those it hotel, Andrey Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, considers its enemies will be hunted down, of his murder. The clear radioactive traces located wherever they are and unpleas- they had left on their seats on the airliner antly killed. Although Russia will at the from Moscow was just part of the damning same time strongly deny responsibility, evidence. A statutory public coroner’s the world is intended to infer that Russia inquest into the killing concluded that it was responsible. A policy of deliberately was an FSB operation and furthermore implausible deniability. that President Putin probably approved it. The UK indicted Lugovoi and Kovtun but Russia refused to extradite them to The pattern of Russian face justice. Luguvoi is now a Deputy in propaganda response the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian Parliament, and he had the nerve to appear on Russian state TV to denounce Propaganda is an essential part of posing the UK over its attribution to Russia of the a hybrid threat. There are three potential attempted murder of Andrei Skripal. In- audiences: the victim to be intimidated; quiries are now being reopened into other the domestic public of the perpetrator deaths of Russian emigres in the UK. to be reassured of the rightness of the action; and the international community to be persuaded not to intervene or impose sanctions. The nature of the hybrid threat A particular feature of the Skri- pal case, from which much can be Intimidation, propagandistic narratives learned in terms of understanding and dirty tricks or ‘active measures’ made the information warfare element of up the repertoire of Soviet subversive any hybrid threat, is the way that activity. The same components appear to the Russian authorities used the be still present in current Russian doctrine. The obvious Russian-ness of the weapon full gamut of their propaganda used on the Skripals, a novichok nerve responses. agent, must have been chosen by the perpetrators precisely so that the attack There was a hint of intimidation in Pres- could be attributed back to the Russian ident Putin’s first public response to the state. In that way the attack could fulfill news coverage of the attack in Salisbury. the twin purposes of intimidating Rus- He naturally denied Russia’s culpability sian emigres in the UK and deterring any while carefully injecting a note of menace. serving Russian official, especially in the “If it was military grade agent,” he said, secret intelligence world, from assisting “they would have died on the spot, obvi- the West. The parallel with the murder of ously.” He had already told state television

6 From Nudge to Novichok that traitors would “kick the bucket” and Sergei Lavrov preferred to blame the US: “choke” on their “pieces of silver”. The “When one or two diplomats are asked to theme was later taken up by Foreign Min- leave this or that country, with apologies ister Sergei Lavrov saying that the attack being whispered into our ears, we know on the Skripals was not “sophisticated” and for certain that this is a result of colossal if it had been the victims would have died pressure and colossal blackmail, which is immediately. Washington’s chief instrument in the inter- national scene.” The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov declared at the beginning A Russian tactic, seen in their attempts to of the crisis “I wish to state with all pos- interfere in the 2016 US election, is the sible certainty that the Soviet Union or generation of “fake news” stories, the more Russia had no programmes to develop a improbable the better, that are likely to toxic agent called novichok”. A few days be carried on social media. The purpose later that was contradicted by Russia’s of such stories is primarily distraction, to RIA Novosti state news agency that ran an obscure the truth in a fog of disinforma- interview with the head of a Moscow lab tion and in the clash of opposing narratives from the State Scientific Research Insti- and thus in this case to distract attention tute of Organic Chemistry and Technology from the charge against Russia (such who confirmed that the Soviet Union had stories included accusing the UK itself of indeed developed novichok agents, the the attempted murders) and to create an programme just had a different name: atmosphere of conspiracy (suggesting for foliant. Russian officials and the state me- example that the death of the Skripal’s dia have claimed variously that ‘novichok’ pets revealed UK complicity). The stories never existed, then they told the media are intended to create such confusion that it did exist from Soviet times but over what can be considered true that the they had destroyed the stocks, then they public gives up on any attempt to establish claimed that the stocks had escaped to what is real. Sweden or the Czech Republic or Slovakia or the United States (in order it was said to In the days following the expulsion of Rus- destabilize the world). sian diplomats the Moscow media put out stories that variously Sergei Skripal took A common Russian leadership theme is to an overdose (because he was said to be assert victimhood at the hands of the West addicted to novichok), that he attempted and thus reflect responsibility away from suicide and therefore presumably tried to itself. In this case, Russian spokesmen take his daughter with him, that his at- went on the offensive against the UK for tempted murder was revenge for Britain’s having dared to claim Russian involvement, supposed poisoning of Ivan the Terrible, accusing Theresa May and her secret or that the UK was responsible for the agencies of a plot to undermine Russia in attack so that they could have something the eyes of the world. The Russian For- to blame Russia over and thus spoil the eign Ministry spokeswoman for example World Cup. The stories were accompanied reacted to the mass expulsion of diplomats by warnings that given the US and UK as “a conspiracy of anti-Russian solidarity intelligence failures in the run-up to the imposed by the British on EU countries”. war in Iraq no allegation against Russia Speaking at a conference on could be taken seriously. Salisbury where in Tashkent, the Russian foreign minister, the Skripals were attacked is the nearest

7 From Nudge to Novichok railway station to the UK defence research recovered sufficiently to leave hospital for establishment Porton Down where the a secure location, the Russian Embassy definititive identification of the nerve agent complained that they had been denied con- as a novichok took place: unsurprisingly sular access to her, and when she declined this fact too was wound into a conspiracy their assistance, claimed that the UK is theory that the British MOD had manu- forcibly detaining her. factured the agent and somehow it had escaped laboratory confinement to drift The Foreign Office in London has said that over Salisbury (and by coincidence target in the first month after the attack it count- the Skripals). Russia suggested that a lack ed 24 such ludicrous fake news stories. of information about Mr Skripal’s pets — he is believed to have had two cats and two Moscow also was quick to exploit the guinea pigs — could be regarded as suspi- perfectly proper public statement by the cious and that they could provide clues to Director of the Porton Down research the poisoning. Sergei Lavrov, speaking in establishment that his scientists were Moscow, argued that British intelligence 100% sure that a had been agents could have been involved to create used, but the evidence as to its composi- a distraction from Brexit. He suggested the tion did not enable them to identify from attack was “in the interests of British spe- the science where it had been made. That cial forces who are known for their abilities was used to cast doubt on the original UK to act with a licence to kill.” attribution to Russia, notwithstanding that rested on the unique combination of The Russian embassy in London was at the facts that Soviet scientists developed the same time suggesting that the UK had its novichok agents starting in the 1970s, own stores of novichok agents and ques- Russia subsequently stockpiled the agents, tioning why hospital staff in Salisbury hap- Russia has a record of state-sponsored pened to have an antidote to the novichok assassinations and Russia has a publicly nerve agent used in the attempted murder avowed motive for trying to kill Sergei Skri- (reality check: there is no known antidote pal, all leading to the conclusion there is to such an advanced nerve agent – the ‘no plausible alternative explanation’. The patients would have been treated with British Foreign Secretary had opened the , which is on the World Health jaws of this propaganda trap by not being Organisation’s list of effective and safe sufficiently precise about the difference medicines needed in a health system and between the true statement that this was used for treating insecticide poisoning and scientifically established to be a novichok conditions such as slow heart rate). To cap agent, of the type known to be made by it all, the Russian Embassy in London used Russia, and the equally true statement that its Twitter account to send sarcastic mes- there was no plausible alternative explana- sages, including a photograph of Hercule tion, for all those reasons, that the novi- Poirot, Agatha Christie’s famous fictional chok used must have been made in Russia. Belgian detective with the message “In the Sadly a number of Western politicians then absence of evidence, we definitely need a could not avoid falling themselves into the Poirot in Salisbury”. Asked by a journalist if propaganda trap thus inadvertently baited the tweet was appropriate comment given to cast doubt on the attribution. the Skripals were fighting for their lives in hospital, the Ambassador replied “Did you The cynical and brazen way in which Mos- like it?” When, thankfully, Julia Skripal had cow has used its propaganda techniques

8 From Nudge to Novichok in response to a very serious allegation that one sovereign nation has forcibly tak- by the international community of state en territory from another in Europe. Rus- complicity in attempted murder has sia has fomented conflict in the Donbas nevertheless had the unintended effect and supported the Assad regime, including of undermining the Russian denial of any when the regime deliberately ignored its responsibility for the use of the novichok obligation to stop using chemical weapons. agent. Russia has also violated the national air- space of European countries and mounted It will be important for the future a sustained campaign of cyber espionage to make sure that Western publics and disruption, including meddling in elec- are fully informed of the range of tions….We will always respond robustly to propagandistic tactics used in hybrid attempts to harm the UK and destabilise threats, not least those directed at the world order. It happened against a backdrop of a well established pattern sympathetic voices overseas and at of Russian State aggression. We will not the Russian public that paint Russia tolerate the threat to life of British people as the victim of Western aggression. and others on British soil from the Russian And that all who comment officially, government. We will continue to bring all and journalists who report them, the capabilities of UK law enforcement to take every care to be precise in the bear against serious criminals and corrupt use of language, even in the hurly elites. The expulsion of Russian diplomats burly of political debate. will also fundamentally degrade Russian intelligence capability in the UK for years to come. These responses demonstrate a firm, defensive and proportionate ap- Policy responses to hybrid threats proach to Russia’s continuing efforts to divide EU and NATO members”.

Of particular concern is the possibility that NATO and European nations will no doubt there may be future deniable use of nerve be looking again at their national security agents. The EU Council on 22 March strategies in the light of continued Russian concluded that “Against this background, bellicosity and intransigence. An example the European Union must strengthen its is the outcome of the recent UK National resilience to Chemical, Biological, Radio- Security Capability Review, published logical and Nuclear-related risks, including after the Skripal attack, that sets out its through closer cooperation between the policies towards hybrid threats: European Union and its Member States as well as NATO. The European Union and “The risks from state-based threats have its Member States should also continue to both grown and diversified. The indiscrim- bolster their capabilities to address hybrid inate and reckless use of a military-grade threats, including in the areas of cyber, nerve agent on British soil was an unlawful strategic communication and counter-in- use of force by the Russian State. It hap- telligence. The European Council invites pened against a backdrop of a well-estab- the European Commission and the High lished pattern of Russian State aggression. Representative to take this work forward Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea was and report on progress by the June Euro- the first time since the Second World War pean Council.”

9 From Nudge to Novichok ceptable Russian actions is likely to Conclusion evoke a vigorous propaganda count- er attack, of denial, obfuscation and diversion with an overtone of intim- As a permanent member of the UN Securi- idation using both conventional and ty Council, Russia has a special obligation social media. Western politicians and to uphold the rules of good international spokespersons need to be prepared conduct. When it does the opposite and for this: every word they say will be tramples upon these rules, the Kremlin threatens the very architecture of global analysed and any potential opening security. provided exploited as part of the propaganda onslaught. The Kremlin now knows it underestimated the strength of global feeling: they may have thought that the world had become so hardened and cynical as not to care about the use of chemical weapons in Is there a connection between Putin’s indul- Europe, and to be indifferent to the reck- gence of Assad’s atrocities in Syria including less disregard for public safety and the CW use and the Russian state’s evident suffering of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The willingness to employ a chemical weapon on Kremlin now has their answer, that the use British soil? How much easier does it become of chemical weapons, including the use of for a state to deploy chemical weapons when any toxic chemicals as weapons under any its government has already tolerated and circumstances, is completely unacceptable, sought to hide their use by others? Russia has must be systematically and rigorously con- made immense efforts to conceal the use of demned and constitutes a global security chemical weapons by the Assad regime in threat. Perhaps too they had calculated Syria. In October, an international investiga- that European nations had become so tion concluded that Bashar al-Assad’s forces morally weakened, so dependent on hydro- had used the nerve agent against the carbons, so chronically risk averse and so town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017. Yet fearful of Russia that they would not dare instead of condemning Assad, Russia covered to respond. The Kremlin has now seen up for him by vetoing the renewal of the in- unqualified solidarity in the face of their ternational inquiry and, in effect, forcing it to actions. shut down. In April 2018, further CW use by the Syrian regime against civilians in the town The international response to the of Douma, causing many deaths of women Skripal poisoning carries an import- and children, has been fiercely condemned ant lesson for the future of the value in the UN Security Council but Russia again adopted a line of denial, challenging whether of strong NATO-EU co-operation to any CW attack had taken place. counter hybrid threats. It also illus- trates that any challenging of unac-

10 From Nudge to Novichok Author

Sir David Omand is a visiting Professor in the War Studies Depart- ment of King’s College London and at PSIA Sciences Po in Paris. He is a former British civil servant. He has held the appointments of UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator in the Cabinet Office, Permanent Secretary Home Office, Director GCHQ and Deputy Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Defence. He has pub- lished two books: Securing the State (Hurst, 2010) and Principled Spying: the Ethics of Secret Intelligence (with Mark Phythian) (Oxford University Press and Georgetown University Press, 2018).

11 From Nudge to Novichok Literature:

European Council statement, 22 March, Brussels: EU pp. 9-11 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/33457/22-euco-final-conclusions-en.pdf

Johnson, Boris (2018) British Foreign Secretary speech at the Lord Mayors Ban- quet, London, 28 March https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/foreign-secretarys-lord-mayors-eas- ter-banquet-speech-at-mansion-house-wednesday-28-march

Johnson, Boris, , 27 March 2018. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/west-takes-a-stand-to-halt-reckless- ambitions-article-by-boris-johnson

NATO Council statement, 14 March 2018, Brussels: NATO https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_152787.htm

May, Theresa, Speech to the House of Commons, 14 March 2018 https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-commons-statement-on-salisbury- incident-response-14-march-2018 and https://www.opcw.org/fileadmin/OPCW/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e_.pdf

Omand, David (2018) The Threats from Modern Digital Subversion and Sedition Journal of Cyber Policy, London: Routledge

OPCW, Report on Technical Assistance Requested by the United Kingdom, The Hague: OPCW, 12 April 2018, https://www.opcw.org/news/article/opcw-issues-report-on-technical-assis- tance-requested-by-the-united-kingdom/

Statement following trilateral UK/France/Germany meeting of 22 March, https:// www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-trilateral-with-president-macron-and-chancel- lor-merkel-22-march-2018

UK Government, National Security Capability Review, London: HMSO, March 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ file/696305/6.4391_CO_National_Security_Review_web.pdf UK Government, Letter from National Security Adviser to NATO SecGen, 13 April 2018, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/letter-from-the-uk-national-securi- ty-adviser-to-the--secretary-general

The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats tel. +358 400 253800 www.hybridcoe.fi

ISBN 978-952-7282-06-9 ISSN 2670-160X

Second version of the publication. Previously published as "Working Paper April 2018: From Nudge to Novichok: The response to the Skripal nerve agent attack holds lessons for countering hybrid threats".

Hybrid CoE is an international hub for practitioners and experts, building participating states’ and institutions’ capabilities and enhancing EU-NATO cooperation in countering hybrid threats located in Helsinki, Finland

The responsibility for the views expressed ultimately rests with the authors.

12 From Nudge to Novichok Hybrid CoE