The UK government announced on Monday, 6 July 2026, that it has imposed sanctions on seven individuals and two Russian research institutes accused of developing chemical weapons. These agents were allegedly used in the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny in 2024 — and also in the 2018 nerve agent attack on British citizen Dawn Sturgess.
According to the UK Foreign Office, those sanctioned were involved in the research, development, and production of lethal neurotoxic agents — specifically Novichok and A-234 (also known as ‘Novichok-type’ and ‘epi-bis’ or ‘epi-bis-234’, commonly referred to in media reports as ‘epi-bis’ or ‘epi-bis-234’) — which were deployed in the attempted assassination of Navalny and the fatal poisoning of Sturgess.
In February, the UK, Sweden, France, Germany, and the Netherlands jointly accused Moscow of using a rare toxin — A-234 — to poison Navalny. He died in 2024 under suspicious circumstances while imprisoned in Russia.
Dawn Sturgess, a 44-year-old British mother, was an unintended victim of the 2018 Novichok attack targeting former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southern England. While the Skripals survived, Sturgess died in July 2018 after coming into contact with the nerve agent. Her partner had found a perfume bottle containing the substance in a discarded bag and passed it to her, believing it to be harmless fragrance.
The incident triggered a major diplomatic crisis between the UK and Russia, prompting mutual expulsions of diplomats.
“Russia’s repeated use of chemical weapons constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and poses a direct threat to global security,” said Foreign Secretary Ivet Cooper.
The two sanctioned institutions are the SC Signal Research Institute and the GNIII VM Research Institute of Medical Science. The seven individuals are senior staff members affiliated with these institutes, according to the Foreign Office.
The announcement came on the eve of the NATO summit in Ankara, where the war in Ukraine will be a central focus. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the UK has imposed sanctions on more than 3,400 individuals and entities, the Foreign Office confirmed.