Speaking in the Commons, Ms May told MPs the attack was carried out by two Russian spies and sanctioned at a “senior level” by Vladimir Putin’s regime.

She said investigations had concluded that the two suspects were members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence service, and it was not a “rogue operation”.

Ms May told MPs the UK would push for new sanctions against Russians responsible for cyber attacks, additional listings under the existing regime and promised to work with intelligence allies to “counter the threat posed by the GRU”.

The US, France, and Germany, and Canada have also agreed with the UK the Russian government "almost certainly" gave the green light on the novichok attack.

"We have full confidence in the British assessment that the two suspects were officers from the Russian military intelligence service, also known as the GRU, and that this operation was almost certainly approved at a senior government level," the joint statement read.





During the meeting UK Ambassador to the UN Karen Pierce and Russia's Permanent Representative to the world body Vasily Nebenzya traded diplomatic barbs, with US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley joining in with her characteristically bold language.

Ms Pierce said UK police have been conducting a "painstaking and forensic investigation," having gone "through 11,000 hours of CCTV footage" and conducted approximately 14,000 interviews to come to their conclusion about the suspects.

She indicated CCTV footage showed the two suspects in the vicinity of Mr Skripal's home in Salisbury around the time of the 4 March attack and it was determined the suspects, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were part of Russian military intelligence, a unit called the GRU.

"The GRU has time and again" interfered in other countries' affairs, Ms Pierce said. She pointed to the hacking of the Democratic National Committee's emails during the 2016 US presidential election as one example.

"They played dice with the lives of the people of Salisbury," she noted.

"The UK has no quarrel with the Russian people, we continue to hold out hope we will have" strong relations with the government, Ms Pierce said.

Again, she used the words "brazen" and "reckless" to describe the suspected actions of the Russian suspects and the Kremlin. Several other countries joined in her sentiments.

Mr Nebenzya retorted, accusing Downing Street of "Russophobia" and claimed the accusation Moscow was not cooperating with London was false.

"It's still not clear why Russia would want to poison the Skripals...and do it in such a strange, sophisticated way," he said, repeatedly questioning various issues with the investigation's conclusions about the suspects, their nationality, and their supposed affiliation with GRU.